Keeping Promises
by fighterNOTlover
Summary: Royai. Riza winds up in the hospital after a mysterious incident and Roy feels responsible. It's all about keeping her promises. Obviously I do not own FMA
1. Keeping a promise

AN: Thanks to the persistence of some reviewers I resurrected this story from the fallow and went back and edited all currently posted chapters. It is my intention to finally end this story with the addition of one or two more chapters. In the mean time go ahead and get to re-reading

Roy stopped at the window of the infirmary and gazed in. It was late so there were no other visitors and luckily most of the beds were empty, making it easy to find Riza. For a moment he just stared at her lying in the cot without going in. Once again he felt the guilt take hold of him like a hand around his throat. She was injured on his behalf, probably not for the first time, luckily not the last either. Roy knew he didn't deserve to have her around, but he realized he'd never be where he was without her, but he also knew it would take more sacrifice to get where they were going. He shook his head to clear the thoughts and put his guilt trip at bay for now.

Once he made it across the room to her cot he took a chair and sat next to her. The moonlight coming in through the window showed her to be sound asleep in her hospital gown. He could see now that her covers were pulled up to her underarms, but it didn't hide from him the ample amount of bandages. Until then he hadn't known the extent of her injuries. She never did want him to know when she was hurt, even something as trivial as a paper cut. He supposed that she didn't want him to worry, but he always would.

Roy could see that she'd been wounded on her shoulder and arm from where the bandages were. What he couldn't tell was what kind of weapon had done it. More importantly he didn't know who had done it. When Havoc and he had happened upon the accident he hadn't taken any time to look at the other driver. He looked down at the floor to keep from getting angry but he wasn't sure whom he was angry with. Riza because she got hurt on some mission he hadn't even wanted her to know about, the person who'd hurt her or himself for not protecting her. He began to get lost in his own little world of self-deprication and didn't notice her wake.

Riza was a light sleeper. Roy had caused her to stir when he first opened the door to the infirmary, noting that door had always had a squeaky hinge. She wondered why he was here and how he got in at this time of night. It was long past visiting hours, but then again Roy had a certain charm with women and he probably had no trouble getting the nurse to let him in. But that still left the why unanswered. She heard him take a seat next to her, and after a few moments he started murmuring to himself. Riza wasn't an idiot, she knew that he was blaming himself for her condition just like he always did in times like this.

"Sir, you shouldn't be here." She said, startling him out of his guilt trip.

Roy nearly fell off of the chair but recovered and slid his chair closer to her. "Well, I would've come earlier but…" he attempted. "I mean, why wouldn't I…" he tried again. "Of course I should be," he finally settled on.

"It's late, you'll make people suspicious, Sir." She whispered looking towards the door as if to give him the hint it was time to leave.

"Well, Hawkeye. I figured you could tell me what you were up to in private or I could come back when everyone is awake and ask you then if that's what you want." Roy challenged her, letting her know he wasn't going away without an explanation.

Riza turned and looked him in the eye, "I was keeping a promise…Sir."

Roy cringed and looked anywhere other than those deep amber eyes. He had already known that she wouldn't do anything reckless unless it was to protect him and it killed him to hear her confirm it. After a few moments he slammed his fist against his knee "I'm going to fry the person who did this…" he muttered more to himself than to her.

"Sir," she started.

He looked at her, "You know I can't let them get away with this. I don't care who they are, if it was those thugs that were sending the letters I'm going to-"

She cut him off with a harsh whisper, "Sir!"

"What Hawkeye! You can't expect me not to do anything about this!" Roy raised his voice, letting emotions seep into the conversation.

"Just shut up you stupid man," she replied with a hint of annoyance. Roy froze with his mouth open and ready to continue though the words had somehow escaped him. "You don't have anyone else to worry about now." She stated simply as if to say that was that.

"Don't tell me not to worry about it Riza, someone tried to kill you!" Roy exclaimed incredulously, not caring he addressed her by her first name. After all no one else was awake to hear the slip up.

Riza sat up in the cot gritting her teeth at the pain but doing her best to ensure Roy didn't see it. After a moment when she knew she could speak without her voice giving her away she turned to meet Roy's stare, "Sir, you really can be a simpleton at times."

Roy couldn't believe she was acting like this. He wanted to say something, anything to make her believe it wasn't ok for her to get hurt on his behalf. And that he was going to personally hunt down her assailants and burn them to a crisp. But the astonishment of being called an idiot for these feelings left him unable to do anything but gape at her.

"Close your mouth, sir." She remarked on his sudden lack of jaw function with just a slip of a smirk playing across her mouth. With him being in such a state of confusion all he did was slowly close his gaping mouth and continue to stare at her. Riza cast her gaze down and stopped smirking. "Roy… you should know the people who did this to me are already dead."

A light bulb went on in Roy's head as her attitude finally made sense. There was no one to hunt down because they never got away from her. He really could be an idiot sometimes; Hawkeye was more than capable of covering her own ass… and his. His pride as her superior would've been overwhelming as he heard that she had been so thorough in eliminating all of the threats on his life, but his first concern wasn't pride. He smiled an understanding sort of smile and put his hand on top of hers where it rested on the cot.

Riza looked at his hand on hers but her eyes refused to meet his. Although she would never hesitate to pull the trigger with deadly accuracy when her life or Mustang's was in jeopardy, she still hated taking lives. Roy knew that it weighed on her mind as heavily as his own sins of the past did, but he never held them against her. He wanted to hold her and protect her from those demons as she had done so many times for him. Finally he helped himself to the free space on the bed and sitting beside her, put one arm aside her waist while continuing to hold her hand in the other. She winced when his arm touched her side, just barely, but she did.

"Riza," he boldly decided to continue using her first name. "Where else are you injured?"

She slipped her hand away from his and moved his arm away from her waist. "I'm fine Sir," she said avoiding his question and insisting upon the use of formalities just in case someone else in the room had woken up. "And you should leave if you're finished with your inquiry."

Roy stood up and put his hands in his pockets while he mulled over what else he had to ask her tonight. In fact, he recounted, she had left most of his questions unanswered so he didn't feel that he ought to leave. However, injured or not Hawkeye wasn't the kind of woman he wanted to piss off by pushing his luck with her patience. He let out a frustrated sigh and looked down at her. She met his gaze with a look of resolve that she did not intend to answer his questions, at least not tonight. He could also see that she was getting tired again and would be drifting off to sleep sooner rather than later. He glanced over the room as if in thought before he turned his attention back to Riza and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I think it is time to call it a night Lieutenant," he concluded. She nodded in agreement and waited for him to leave, however he continued sitting. After a moment he put a hand on her uninjured shoulder, "let's get you tucked in alright?"

Riza hadn't wanted to lie down while Roy was still in the room because she knew how much it was going to hurt. If she could help it she would keep the charade of painlessness around him because he couldn't afford to waste time being worried about her. "No…no…it's ok…Sir," she stammered hoping he would leave.

"Nonsense," was all that he said with a smile before he gently began easing her onto her back again.

Riza clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut to cope with the searing pain that shot through her body. Roy had her laid back in no time, but the waves of pain were slow to fade and she hadn't noticed the quickness of his action for a few minutes. She opened her eyes when she felt a warm sensation on her lips that made the pain recede almost instantly. Thankful for the abandon she let his lips linger, and tenderly returned the kiss. He broke the kiss, and brushed her bangs to the side of her face before he stood up to go.

"I'll be back tomorrow Riza," he whispered in her ear as he promptly turned and left as if nothing had happened. Nothing ever did.


	2. To the top, Together

Disclaimer: You know I don't own FMA don't be silly. If I did it'd be all Royai!

The next day Mustang sent Havoc to the infirmary to check up on Hawkeye and to get an official report from her. Not that he was expecting an honest account, but anything was better than nothing.

After Havoc left, Roy sat at his desk staring at the paperwork that covered it with his head in his hand. He never did motivate himself to do his work, so no one thought it was odd that he looked like he was in his own little world, especially after yesterday's events. Instead, he was throwing himself to all the real reasons that Riza would've wound up in the hospital. He wondered which of the bastards it was trying to kill him… or rather, maybe a list of those who wouldn't want to kill him might be less work.

After an hour or so had passed and Havoc hadn't returned, Roy started pacing around his desk. Eventually, he found himself walking to the infirmary to look in on his subordinates and he watched them from the window in which he stood last night watching Riza sleep. Havoc was sitting bedside to Hawkeye taking down notes and occasionally looking up to ask another question. Sometimes Roy could see them smile and laugh which served to unconsciously make him smile as well. It wasn't too much longer when Havoc got up and saluted and left.

Roy met Havoc in the hallway when he emerged from the infirmary a few moments later. At a second glance he noticed that Havoc's cheek was now red when it hadn't been two minutes ago.

"Did you make an inappropriate comment to Hawkeye, Second Lt.?"

"No sir Chief," Havoc replied and upon a skeptical look from his superior he continued. "I asked the head nurse out to dinner."

Amused Roy pushed it a little further, "She slapped you for asking her out to dinner? That seems like a bit of an overreaction."

Havoc's face and neck flushed pink with embarrassment and he put his hand behind his head. "Well, I told her that she has a nice butt too…"

Roy just laughed at that, then moved on to more important things, "So do you have the report I asked for?"

"Yes sir," Havoc replied, handing him the file. "That must've been one heck of car wreck Hawkeye was in."

Roy wasn't surprised that Riza had lied. But it was the fact that Havoc insinuated that she was injured more than what he'd seen last night that caused him to furrow his brow. He flipped open the report as they walked back to the office and began skimming through it. "What do you mean by that Havoc?"

"Well, you'll see when you read the report. It'd be redundant to tell you," Havoc replied with an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips as he opened a door planning to step out for a quick break. "You need anything else chief?"

Roy muttered a "No thank you," as he proceeded to the office while still reading the report. Without so much as looking up he opened the door, navigated the office and found his seat and plopped down in it and began reading the finer details of the report:

… I, First Lieutenant Elizabeth Hawkeye, was injured in an incident while returning to base after taking the weekend off to visit family. While being escorted to base, an unidentified rebel ambushed the vehicle with firearms. The rebel rammed my vehicle several times and before the final hit causing the vehicle to flip over I emptied my gun at the driver. After which the vehicle skidded off the road and began to flip, during which I was thrown from it and rendered unconscious. By the time I regained consciousness military personnel were on the scene. I was then taken to Central HQ to the infirmary…

Roy shut the folder in one hand and leaned back. He remembered hearing the wreck happening as Havoc drove him down the road that day. And the total surprise when they had discovered it was none other than Riza crashing in front of them. Roy had more questions than ever for Hawkeye after the extremely vague report. He knew the last time he saw her she hadn't been driving and also had no family to go visit. He also knew the higher ups would be asking about it and he would be more than happy to cover her unaccounted time as a vacation leave. He regretted that a lot of her vacation time was never just that.

It was late again when Mustang charmed his way into the infirmary to see Riza. He used the excuse that he was still around so late because he had to cover his Lt.'s paperwork as well as his own while she was here. And it wasn't as if most personnel didn't already know who actually did most of the work in the Mustang office anyways so it was believable.

He scanned through the window for other occupants in the ward and only saw two other patients. Luckily they were also situated far enough from Riza that they could safely have their conversation.

When he pushed the door to enter, Riza looked up from her novel. She was glad to see him, yet she knew that she might not feel that way for long. He'd left without answers last night and it was highly unlikely that he'd let her do it twice.

"Good evening Hawkeye." Roy greeted her formally.

"Good evening, Colonel." She replied, grateful he was being cautious for once.

Roy pulled up a seat next to her like he had done the night before, and when he leaned forward she noticed the report Havoc had taken earlier inside his jacket. Riza decided that she would let him start the conversation tonight, she didn't want to say too much. She didn't have to wait long.

"I'm glad to find you awake tonight, you must be feeling better?"

"Yes Sir, I am," she responded. There was an awkward pause for the next few minutes as Roy simply nodded, then let his eyes wander around the room. She could tell from his lack of confidence that this definitely wasn't going to be a good night, but she continued waiting for him to speak.

When Roy finished surveying the room to make certain that everyone was sound asleep he turned back and looked at Riza. She was looking at him expectantly, so he looked down and fumbled for the file inside his jacket. Upon taking it out and returning his gaze to Riza he had found that she had stiffened and her eyes were now cold and steely. Not a good sign.

"This is a very interesting report, Hawkeye." He offered, fishing for a response. He received none. "What part of this is even true?"

She reacted in surprise that he would accuse her of writing an erroneous report. "It all is, Sir. May I ask why you would have reason to believe it wasn't?"

Mustang lowered his voice and leaned in close to her, "I know how you are with your promise. And considering whom it's with I'm well aware that you take precautions, lest someone figure out what's really going on. Therefore, Riza," he emphasized her name. "I want to know the truth. What happened to you?" When he finished, he looked into her eyes to assure her that he was serious.

She sighed, and matching his gaze replied, "I did not write a false report, Sir. You apparently saw the damage yourself so I'm not sure what it is I have to explain"

Roy just looked at her begging her to stop playing games with him. He _had_ seen the damage. He couldn't get it out of his mind. And he needed to know the real reason he ever had to see her like that. She broke their gaze and leaned back against the headboard, still trying to prevent Roy from seeing too much of her obvious pain.

Roy decided to let it go, however he was still troubled. Riza was still covering up something from him and he needed to find out. "Is that the _whole_ story?" he asked, fishing around once more. Instantly he saw her eyes soften although nothing else did. He'd asked the million-dollar question and they both knew it.

After a few moments she hadn't looked at him or responded, so Roy reached out, gently taking her bruised chin in his hand and turned her to look at him. She continued to avoid him with her eyes however, and he felt a pang of guilt in his chest that he would reconcile with later. "Riza…?" he cooed barely above a whisper.

She had uncharacteristically begun biting her lip while thinking it over, and without looking at him Riza murmured "…No, Roy. It isn't…" She moved his hand away and pulled her face out of his grasp. "You know that I have to protect you, Roy, whatever the cost."

"I know, but Riza, that doesn't mean that you have to keep secrets from me," Roy told her as he took her hands in his. "We're going to the top together, so that means we can't keep doing this," remarking on her terrible condition.

Riza didn't respond for a few seconds. She would do anything for him as long as it helped him fulfill his promise to her all those years ago. She looked back at Roy and gave him a half-hearted smile.

Her half smile made his heart melt, it was so rare to see her smile so he treasured it. "Will you tell me the whole story now?" he pleaded.

She looked into his deep onyx eyes and she knew that telling him what had happened since she last walked away from him was going to hurt more than all of her other injuries already did. She took a ragged breath and held onto his hand a little tighter. "I don't want you to be overprotective of me after this," she cautioned him. "Remember once I get out of this bed it's my job to keep _you_ safe."

"I can't promise anything like that Riza," Roy protested. Looking at her sitting in a hospital bed with a bruised face, sutured lip and no telling what else was broken underneath her blanket made him ache with the need to protect her. He was well aware that officially that was her job, to go right back into the line of fire for him. But he knew, that she knew, he would rather die than lose her in the process. Riza glared at him, and he changed his wording. "I'll do my best," he offered.

She decided that was good enough, so she took a deep breath and began…


	3. Tell me everything

She had been working late one night as usual, refiling information from old cases that seemed to have similarities with the latest threats to the Colonel's life. Nothing was out of the ordinary for that time of night, the halls were perfectly quiet, few lights were on, very few personel were there finishing their last bit of work. Riza was almost finished placing the last file in it's proper place when she did notice something out of the ordinary. There was an envelope on the floor, unmarked and more importantly, unopened.

Her hand automatically hovered over her pistol, she quickly surveyed the room she had spent the better half of her day in. Confused and still finding nothing out of the ordinary about the office her eyes returned to the mysterious letter on the floor. Slowly Riza walked to it and picked it up, she pulled the envelope between two of her fingers determining that there were no dangerous objects contained inside it. Taking one more glance to her surroundings, she opened the envelope. The letter inside was short and sweet, merely stating

'Col. Mustang mind your own business. Last Warning.'

The lieutenant sighed and placed the letter back in the envelope. She didn't know what it was Mustang had gotten himself into this time, but she put the letter in her satchel to deliver to him on her way home. She took her jacket off the back of her chair, gathered her things,  
turned off the lights and left for the night.

The walk to the car was a chilly one. She knew that turning on the heat would be pointless at the moment and would only make the car take longer to get going. The Colonel only lived a few minutes off base and so she wrapped her jacket a little tighter and drove a little faster than usual. When she arrived at Roy's apartment she gave her knock: twice quickly with a pause and then one more knock. When he came to the door he seemed pleasantly surprised to see her but welcomed her in none the less.

Once the door was shut she hung her jacket and bag up and greeted Roy with a small, passionate kiss instead of saying hello. He smiled again when they broke the kiss "To what do I owe this surprise, Riza?" he asked as he went to the kitchen and to make her a hot cup of tea.

"You received a letter today, I thought you might want to read it as soon as possible," she replied while retrieving the letter from her bag. Roy handed her the cup of tea and took the letter with some interest as Riza helped herself to the couch. She sipped on her tea and watched him read and then re-read the letter.

"Well..." she inquired. "What is this about Roy?"

He looked up from the letter and sighed. "You can't tell me you're worried about this."

Riza gave him a look that assured him that she took any threat to his well being seriously. "Roy, this isn't the first letter you've received from whom-ever this is. Why haven't you told me about them?"

Roy walked around the coffee table and sat on the couch next to her. Placing the letter on the table he sat back and continued to look over it. She stared at him expectantly waiting for him to answer as she continued to sip her tea. For a few minutes he didn't say anything, and finally he looked at her somewhat defeated. "I didn't want you to get involved with this investigation," he admitted.

Confused she looked back at him, "why?"

"These people aren't only going after me but anyone they think has knowledge about the fire alchemy. I don't want anyone having any reason to suspect you."

"You know that I'm perfectly capable of watching mys-"

"I know you can watch yourself," he cut her off. "I just don't want you to get involved with these people. They're dangerous." Roy said as he took her cup from her hands and sat it down on the table. He pulled her into him as he leaned back and wrapped his arms around her protectively. She broke off his embrace but didn't move away from him, he could tell that she was annoyed but she was thinking about the situation.

"Even so..." she started. "You are supposed to tell me about things like this." Roy started to protest when she continued adamantly, her voice beginning to show her aggravation "How can I protect you if I don't know what's going on with you? Threats to me never..." She turned around to face him, "Never come before threats to you. This country can't afford to lose you."

He cupped her face with his free hand and held her gaze for a moment, looking intently into her eyes. "And _I_ can't afford to lose you Riza." She put her hand on top of his and let them rest for a moment, leaning into him. She looked even more frustrated with him now than she had before, her eyes becoming a little misty. With a sigh she pushed away from him and got up from the couch. He was a little taken aback as he watched her began to collect her things.

"Riza?" He followed her up off the couch, but stayed where he stood when she turned back to him.

"Roy, I care about you and this country too much for you to prevent me from protecting you. Don't make me shoot you for straying from our goal." She reminded him of the promise she made when they first decided to take this path. She put on her jacket and picked up her satchel putting the strap over her shoulder. "I should go..." she trailed off.

Roy walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder preventing her from leaving. "My goals are still clearly ahead of me, make no mistake. But I can't do it alone, and I won't do it without you." He assured her leaving no room to argue. With a swift motion he managed to spin her off balance landing her square into his chest. From there he pulled her up to him and kissed her tenderly to let her know that they were still in this together. "I'll give you the details on these thugs tomorrow, is that ok?"

"Better tomorrow than never, just don't do this again Roy... Please," she looked him the eye with determination letting him know that it wasn't really a request.

"I promise," he assured. "Let me walk you out." He led Riza out the door and to the car after she had double checked that his front door was locked. She didn't stop him when he opened the car door for her because the moments he was allowed to show his chivalrous side to her were few and far between and they meant something to him. She gave him a snappy salute in case anyone was around and got in the car. Although she didn't look back to see, he had stayed on the sidewalk and watched her until she was out of site. He knew once he told her about the men trying to discover the secret of his fire alchemy that she would go after them. He just hoped that she got to them first.


	4. The Disappearance

The next day while the others were out of the office for lunch, Roy handed a few unlabeled files to Riza containing everything about the current threat. He still felt some resentment from her for the fact that he had tried to keep her separate from the case, but he also saw gratitude in her expression. She promptly put the files in her bag to take them home, she planned to review everything in them once she was out of the office. Nodding a 'Thank you' to Roy she continued about her work as usual. Taking the hint from her, he went back to his desk and decided it was better to forget about it for now knowing they'd deal with it later.

That night she spent in her makeshift study in Roy's apartment, files and letters spread out across the kitchen table as she meticulously searched through them. There were separate piles for each person mentioned in them, and she arranged them from highest threat to least. She wondered why she didn't recognize any of the names. She would have thought it would be someone from within the military or at least who had some connection that would try to learn the secret of flame alchemy. Once she looked into each file more specifically she started to see a connection between the people in the file, all of them having attempted to become state alchemists and failed after Mustang tested in. 'Well... it would have been difficult to impress anyone after he showed up,' Riza thought to herself. 'Maybe that's why they want to learn the secret of flame alchemy...' she pondered while taking a sip of her hot tea that Roy fixed for her earlier. Stealing methods and techniques from other applicants was a known occurrence in preparation for the State Alchemist exam. Jealousy certainly wasn't unheard of within the highly competitive unit, but what was the point in replicating the abilities of another alchemist once they passed the exam? The military normally didn't pass those with duplicated abilities.

"Roy..."

"Yeah? Do you need something?" He walked over to her organized chaos of a study and checked in on her.

"What do these guys have in common other than failing the state alchemy exam years ago? I don't recognize any of the names so I'm assuming they didn't make it into the military afterwards did they?"

"Well, what they all have in common you are already correct about, the other weird thing is that three of the five actually did join the military as regular soldiers after they failed the state exam. No one in any of the respective units ever saw them attempt even simple alchemy again. The other two disappeared completely as far as our records are concerned, however, they didn't need to have files in the military because they didn't stay."

"Well if they joined the army at that time I would have a pretty good chance of knowing them considering the war, but I don't remember any of these names at all. And why are the other two important? What do they have to do with anything?" she proposed to him.

Roy pulled up a chair and opened one of the files. "According to Investigations this guy..." pointing to the suspect with the thickest file, "has been supplying the financial means for the three within the military to sneak around collecting as much information as possible on our alchemy. He used to be a small time gang leader in Amestris but he was busted for human trafficking and served a few short years before someone was able to pay for an early release. We aren't sure about his sudden interest in flame alchemy but with an idiot like that behind the wheels of this can't be good. And this guy..." he explained reaching for the next pathetically thin file. "This guy we really don't know anything about, but we gather that he is the one that really wants all of the information. But once again we don't know why, and we don't really know how he is pulling all of these strings. There is barely enough here to connect him to it at all if it weren't for his pairing up with moron number one." he said pointing back to the former profile.

A little exasperated Riza looked and him, "Is that it?"

Roy readjusted in his chair and sipped on his own cup of tea, "What do you mean?" He asked, setting down the cup carefully on the table.

"I mean, is that it?" She pointed to the array of paperwork on the kitchen table. "You have vague profiles on five men, three of which are currently active in the military and very little information to show that these guys are the ones sending the threats? What do you expect me to be able to do with so little helpful information?"

"Whoa, expect You? to do something about this?" He asked. "No, Riza. I don't expect you to do anything, I told you these guys are dangerous and that I don't want you doing anything with this case. I showed you the file so I wouldn't have to explain why I got so many 'friendly' letters from them." He began to regret that she ever caught wind of this little problem, knowing full well how big of a part she was in his alchemy and how dangerous it would be if she was discovered. For now no one knew that she had anything at all to do with his abilities and as for the most obvious of clues, no one had ever seen her back but him.

"How can you possibly expect me to think that these people aren't any more dangerous than anyone else who wants you dead? You don't even have any useful information to help me find them?" Riza declared getting more than a little agitated. "You act as if it's not my job to keep you alive, and believe me, you don't make it an easy job." She pushed her chair back from the table and walked to the sink to rinse her empty cup, effectively turning her back to Mustang in an attempt to hide her anger. She heard his chair move and a moment later he was standing next to her at the sink washing his own cup. Riza finished drying hers and put it away in the cupboard across the kitchen. While Roy was stalling, methodically over-washing his tea cup at the sink, she went back the table and started replacing all of the files and cleaning up the mess she made.

"I didn't leave all of the information in the files." He confessed without turning around from the sink. He could hear her stop moving the papers around behind him and waited for her to respond.

"Roy, why would you do that?" She asked, both exasperated and annoyed with his game of hiding information from her.

He turned around and leaned against the sink while drying his thoroughly cleaned cup, "Because Riza, they have strong suspicions about our military relationship and they think that my array is hidden with you somehow. I don't want you getting involved because the more involved you get the better chances you give them to not only find you, but you'll give them a better opportunity to get at me." He scoffed at himself for the comment but he hoped that implying that it would put him in more danger that she would see the logic in staying away from the case.

"Why would they look for me? Only two people in this world ever knew about the tattoo and one of them is dead," she stated in reference to her long deceased father. "The other is you. So how is it possible that anyone could link your alchemy to me especially considering I don't use it? And besides that, you erased the most important parts of the array, no one can even make sense of it," she reasoned remembering the months of recovery while the burn was healing after the Ishbal war. "There is no danger in me helping with this case. You protecting me is what would make this whole thing suspicious and dangerous." She finished collecting the papers and turned to face Roy. "Don't you trust me?"

Moving across to her he took her hands in his and held them at her waist while he leaned in to look her in the eye. "I owe my life to you, it's never a matter of trusting you. I do. But it's about keeping you here with me too." He closed the distance to her mouth and kissed her to reinforce his statement. "You know I won't ever give up that you are the key to my alchemy, but I can't risk them finding out either way."

She looked up at him and the concern in his eyes was immense. 'Even so,' she thought 'I can't let him take on a case like this without me.' Nodding as if to concede his point, "You have to at least allow me to process the paperwork for this case so I can keep informed on what's going on."

"That's fair enough, as long as you promise not to get anymore involved than that." he looked her in the eye knowing she wasn't really happy with accepting half the job, but it was better than risking her in the field or being angry with him for not telling her.

"You know I can't make such a promise," she replied. However, with the look that he gave her she added, "However if there is any chance that something has to happen I'll send 2nd Lt. Havoc in with a team... I'll do my best to stay out of it."

Seemingly satisfied with the stubborn Lieutenant's compromise Roy smiled at her, "I guess that's the best offer I'm going to get?"

"You better believe it," she added as an after thought, "Sir." With a smirk Riza turned away and finished gathering her things to go and Roy watched her go about picking up all the folders and meticulously putting them all in order again. After a few minutes she had everything ready to go, she turned to Roy and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I will see you tomorrow, try not to be so tardy if you can manage it."

Roy laughed at her comment and watched her walk to the door. As her hand reached for the doorknob he called out her name, "Riza..."

She stopped just short of turning the knob and turned her head, "What is it?"

"Stay the night." Roy said.

She turned around fully to look at him as he crossed the room to approach her. "What?"

"Stay the night with me," he repeated. "It's pretty late as it is, there's no point in sending you out so late, why not just stay with me tonight?" He stepped closer to her and kissed her softly on the lips. Continuing to kiss her lightly along her jaw, he snaked his hands around to her lower back and pulled her closer. "It's been so long since you were able to stay with me," he said in between kisses moving down to her neck.

Riza tried to fight the desire to stay with him, but felt herself succumbing to his spell regardless. Sighing as he pressed her against the door still delivering feathery kisses up and down her neck and along her collarbone, she closed her eyes and started relaxing into his hands. It wasn't until her bag fell out of her grip and hit the floor that she snapped out of it and remembered that she still had work to do with those files at home. She put her hands lightly on Roy's shoulders and pushed him back slightly. A little confused he looked at her and she said "I'm sorry Roy. I lose too much sleep when I stay here."

He smirked, "But you won't get a lot more if you go home now either, and in my opinion your time is better wasted with me than walking home." He leaned in once more to try and convince her to stay but with a well placed finger on his lips she stopped him again.

"One of us has to show up on time tomorrow, and since that's usually me I would like to get _some_ rest tonight," she replied with a hint of sarcasm. Bending over to pick up her bag she added, "Maybe if my boss believed in vacation days..." Straightening back up she smiled at him, "I would have the time lose a few hours of sleep. Until then..." she put one hand aside his face and kissed him. She turned and opened the door, turned back to salute him once stepping outside, "Have a good night Sir."

Locking the door behind her Roy mumbled, "Not anymore it won't be."

Riza did her best to walk away as quickly as possible, she was severely tempted with every step to go back and worry about the files tomorrow. Once around the corner from his apartment she risked a glance behind her to see if he was still watching. Satisfied that he wasn't she slumped against the wall when her knees momentarily failed her. 'Damn that man makes it hard,' she thought. Putting her head in her hands she closed her eyes and collected her thoughts trying to get back into a business mind set. After a minute or two she heard footsteps coming down the hallway, so she stood upright again now firm in her resolve not to go back to Roy's apartment tonight. She continued on her way out of the building giving a brief nod to the stranger walking down the hall past her.

The man couldn't believe what he saw. He had been on his way to Col. Mustang's apartment when he saw the infamous Colonel's Lieutenant leaving the building in plain clothes. He almost didn't realize it was her because most of the profile pictures he had seen of her she had been in her military uniform with her hair put up according to military regulations. When she walked past him in the hallway she was in civilian clothing with her hair down and a pair of glasses on, a completely different person.

He waited for her to turn the corner and he stopped walking. He had done his research on the targets. He knew that Mustang would never give up the secret to his alchemy if the kidnapped him as was originally planned. He also knew that the Colonel was loyal to his subordinates to a fault and especially to that particular Lieutenant. The man decided to follow her until he found a phone booth.

As he followed her at a distance he found what he was looking for and slipped into the booth to make the call."Boss," he whispered into the phone as he watched the woman wait for what little traffic there was at this time of night to cross the street. "You'll never guess who I have run into on the way to 'the market'."

His inquisition was met with silence, so he answered it himself. "She was leaving his apart-"

"Bring her." The other man cut his sentence off and then the line went dead.

After waiting for the only two cars on the road to pass by, Riza crossed the street heading for the small park across the street that was a scenic shortcut to her apartment. She used caution going this way late at night and before she entered the area, she quickly scanned it for anyone in the park or behind her on the street. She saw no one, so she turned into the park with her hand just inside her purse on her handgun. As she walked though the park she began to let her thoughts on the case take over, trying to recall if she had ever heard any of those names before.

A strange sound brought her senses fully back. It sounded like... glass breaking? Riza started to turn towards the sound when out of her peripheral vision she saw the flutter of a coat and then nothing. Her world went black as she slumped into the arms of her attacker.


	5. The Morning After

The next day Roy tried to take his Lieutenant's advice and show up to work on time. Chewing on a pastry with a coffee in hand from his favorite off base bakery, he glanced at his watch. 'Ha, I just might beat her here.' he thought with a smug smirk. Waking up an hour earlier than usual just to prove that he could show up on time, he would make sure that he pointed this out when she arrived. He also decided to give some thought to the sarcastic comment about vacation time that she made on her way out the door last night, it would be nice to have a vacation sometime soon. Maybe once the new threat had been taken care of he could give the whole office a few days off.

He continued to ponder over the possibilities of vacation time when he stepped into the office only to see another letter on the floor. Knowing full well that Riza never would have left the office with so much as lint on the floor, he figured this must be another letter from his new best friends. He opened it up and sure enough he recognized the writing. Without so much as reading it, he folded it back up and set it on his desk. What would the use be in reading yet another threat on his life this early in the morning except to ruin his day? He went about setting up for the day and getting ready to gloat to Riza. He looked at the clock on the wall, 'she should be in any minute now,' he thought.

#*#*#*#*#*#*#*

"Boss," the man who had kidnapped the Lieutenant called his boss again. "She's still out cold. What do you want me to do?" He listened to the man on the other end of the phone line as he watched the woman he had handcuffed to the chair. He was starting to get a little concerned because as he was bringing her in, the chloroform had begun to wear off and he had needed to give her a rather hard hit to the back of the head to keep her unconscious. Now it had been about two hours and he had hoped he hadn't caused any serious damage.

He nodded a few times to the voice on the other end of the phone, "You got it Boss." The man hung up the phone and left the room. After a few moments he returned with a bucket of icy water and began to slowly pour it over her head in an effort to wake her up. At first he got almost no response, however towards the end of the bucket she started to show some signs of life.

Riza awoke sputtering and with a pounding headache. After a number of groggy minutes she began to have more of an awareness of her surroundings and the acute pain in her neck. From what she could see, she didn't recognize the room she was in as it was very dark and there weren't a whole lot of distinguishing characteristics about it. And from the lack of sound from the outside world she gathered that she had to be either underground or deep inside a building somewhere. As her senses came back to her, whether that was a good thing or not she had yet to decide, she came to realize that she was soaking wet. Not quite forming words, but more of a discontent moan she unwittingly made her captor aware of her condition.

"Well, well, well, guess who decided to join the living," the man said. He set down the next bucket of water and walked over to the startled Lieutenant, making a circle around her as she tried to follow him with her eyes.

She shut her eyes again for a moment or two when moving her head to get a glimpse of her captor caused a wave of dizziness and nausea. Riza wondered why she couldn't remember getting where she was, but now she was sure it had something to do with her state of grogginess and the pain in her neck. She felt the man grab her by the chin and most likely direct her to look at him, but even with her eyes closed, the motion itself was enough to bring a new wave of pain and dizziness that threatened her consciousness.

The man must have felt her going faint once more. "Ah, ah, my pretty Lieutenant. You're staying here with us," he told her as she felt ice cold water being poured over her head again, jolting her back to consciousness. Now knowing at least why she was soaking wet, the next step was discovering just what in the world she had gotten involved in now.

After a moment of carefully collecting her thoughts she spoke steadily, "Who are you? Why am I here?"

She could hear the man shuffling around in the room behind her snort at her questions. "I think you already know who I am, or at least who I work for. I know you got your hands on the files that Mustang has been keeping on us for quite some time. For your information, I burned them all when we arrived a few hours ago. You won't need those files anyways, there wasn't a bit of useful information in them." The man stopped briefly as he seemed to search through a pile of some sort. "Ah, here we go."

Suddenly she felt him behind her unlocking the handcuffs, but without her senses functioning normally she was in no condition to try and make a getaway. He wasn't too nice about moving her across the room either, constantly jolting her side to side in an attempt to direct her made blackness fade in and out of her vision. He stopped and handcuffed her to a bar on the wall that would force her to remain on her feet. The man turned to leave the room, and Riza yelled after him, "You didn't answer me!"

The man turned as he put his hand on the doorknob, "Why don't you just, 'hang around' for a while. I'm sure you'll get the answers you want as soon as we get ours," he said laughing as he left the room.

Riza muttered a few profanities under her breath and strained a look up at her bindings. The bar was far enough up the wall that her arms would remain above her head and would quickly lose feeling at that. Obviously it was intended for taller captives than herself. She would have to do something quick to be able to still make her arms do what she wanted them to if she were to get out.

#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#

Roy sat patiently and waited for the office door to open and his Lieutenant to make her way through. At precisely at 8:00 the door swung open and Roy perked up and quickly made some last second adjustments on the stack of papers on his desk. Fuery was the one coming through the door, he was normally just as punctual as Hawkeye so that really wasn't a surprise, however it was much more disappointing to Mustang.

Startled, Fuery quickly snapped a salute to Mustang and stuttered out a "Good morning Sir!" unphased at startling Fuery, Roy waved off the salute, "Good morning."

Fuery looked around the office as Mustang returned to fidgeting with the old paperwork on his desk. "What is it Fuery?" Mustang asked not even looking up from the desk. He sounded only half genuine with his question, though in his confusion Fuery didn't notice the tone of the Colonel's voice.

"Sir, what are you doing here? It's only 8:00."

"I am merely observing my loyal subordinates and their early morning habits. Call it an inspection if you will," Mustang rattled off his excuse, not that he needed to. Fuery looked a little puzzled, but the conversation was cut short as the door creaked open again. Glancing at his watch and seeing it was now 8:02, the Colonel turned his attention back to the door as he watched Havoc and Breda fly through the door already preparing to be scolded for their tardiness. When the two saw Mustang standing in the middle of the room instead Hawkeye they nearly tripped over each other in surprise snapping off a 'good morning' salute.

Mustang waved off their salutes and turned to look out the window. 'And I always thought that she was the first one in here every day. I guess I was wrong there,' he thought to himself. He went back to his desk and sat down and continued to wait on Hawkeye to show up, especially now that he could rub in that almost everyone else had beat her into the office this morning.

#*#*#*#*#*#*#

Riza had spent the last hour tugging at the handcuffs and the bar that she was cuffed to. Neither had moved at all and now not only were her arms heavy and useless but her wrists were forming bruises because of the handcuffs holding them up. Between her pounding head, tumultuous stomach and her heavy arms, she wanted nothing more than just to be able to lay down or at least be sitting on the chair again. Sighing to herself in frustration she was at least able to cradle her head into her arms and closed her eyes. At least she could try and piece the puzzle together if she couldn't best the bar and handcuffs at the moment.

She already assumed that this had to be one of the men from the profiles she read last night, but wondered who it was since she hadn't yet seen his face. Roy had said that these men knew there was a connection between her and the Colonel but as far as he knew, they didn't know what kind of connection the two shared. Riza tried to think back to the last thing she remembered of the night before after leaving Mustang's apartment. She could recall leaving his apartment, and after a minute of collecting herself she left the building. Then she remembered that she had crossed the street to go through the park, but she couldn't remember anything after.

Frustrated with her lack of memory, she started wondering how come she was captured so close to Mustang's house. Was she being followed already? Did they know about the tattoo? Most importantly, did they now know where he lived because they followed her?

Riza was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the door on the other end of the room open. With the door opening there came a surge of bright light as the men entered the room. She was sure that the first man had brought a friend this time, but with the lights too bright for her eyes to adjust to she could only try to listen and wait. It took her another few seconds to realize the light was not adjusting, and she still could not see the men even though they stood now only a few feet away, she had to be in some kind of spotlight.

"Are the accommodations to your liking Lieutenant Hawkeye?" The new voice sneered at her and she refused to react to him.

"Not that I'm complaining, I'd much rather see her than that idiot Colonel this early in the morning, but weren't you supposed to retrieve him last night?" The second man directed this comment to his cohort rather than Riza, but the question set chills down her spine. They had been going for Mustang last night!

"Eh, I was going there, but I saw her leaving his place last night. I figured I'd take my chances with the trigger happy lieutenant rather than get burned to a crisp by Mustang. He'll be more negotiable with her in our hands anyways. From what I saw, she was pretty 'close' to him last night before she left..."

"You mean this broad is sleeping with her superior officer?" The second man exclaimed. "I could have told you that, there's no other reason she would be so close to him all the time and leaving his apartment past midnight. Not to mention how quickly she climbed ranks after the war," commented the first man. "Can you blame him for wanting to keep this bit of skirt close by though?" The men snickered and continued making comments while busying themselves with something around the room.

Riza couldn't help but blush at the bluntness of their conversation, it was as if she wasn't even there to them. She kept her head cradled against her arms to protect her eyes from the light and to hide her reaction to their lewd conversation. Inside her mind her thoughts had already begun to revolve around keeping Roy as far away as possible from these people, no longer even thinking of her own safety. Upon hearing that her presence actually prevented anything from happening to Roy last night gave her some peace of mind to get through what she was sure was going to be a long day.


	6. Something's Amiss

#

Falman came into the office at 8:10 with a mug of coffee in one hand and his day's work under his other arm. He knew something was wrong right away when everyone in the office looked at him when he entered the room, he just didn't know what.

VVVVWWWWWWWWWWVVVVVVVV

The men stopped their conversation and Riza looked up. She was no longer blushing at their earlier comment about sleeping with the Colonel. It wasn't like they could prove anything, and it wasn't as if they were looking to ruin her military career either. Or at least, not by getting her court marshaled. She knew that everything they had said was all an attempt to get at the Colonel and whoever just walked in was the person that she needed to be most wary of.

VVVVVVVWWWWWWWWWVVVVVV

"Gentlemen," Mustang cleared his throat. "I was under the impression that the First Lieutenant was the first one here in the mornings." He glanced at his watch, seeing was now 8:30 and there still was no Hawkeye.

"She usually is Sir," Fuery replied.

There was clearly something wrong in the office, but no one could place a finger on it. What worsened the situation was without Hawkeye showing up as usual, the paperwork wasn't ready for them on their desks and they would start to fall behind if they didn't remember where they needed to go to pick it up themselves. Mustang elected Falman to lead the men to wherever it was that he got his own paperwork from and to pick up his as well. He would stay and wait to see if the Lieutenant would show up before 9:00 or not.

VVVVVWWWWWWWVVVVVVV

"So, here we have the infamous assistant to the Flame Alchemist, First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye." The new man spoke as if reading from their own files of information. The voice was gruff and low, and clearly this man didn't believe in social banter as he got right to the point. "The records we've acquired tell us that you've worked underneath Mustang ever since you were his personal sniper in Ishbal. Our sources have told us that many of the soldiers there thought that you knew each other before the war. Is there any truth to that Miss Hawkeye?"

Riza glared in the direction of the voice ignoring yet another comment one of the first two men made about working 'under' Mustang. She didn't know why they wanted to know that, but she knew better than to answer the question. After being caught leaving Roy's apartment last night, she really didn't need to add fuel to the fire about having a relationship with him.

"Lieutenant..." the man spoke her rank with a hint of impatience and annoyance."We don't expect you to be cooperative, but this will be much less painful if you stop playing hard to get. Not to mention that if you answer our questions, the Colonel will come to no harm." The man was clearly lying through his teeth. For the brief moment that she had to think, she wondered why he even bothered to lie to her. A shift in the light told her the man was coming closer and before she could prepare herself he had stepped forward and landed a brutal slap across the face. Grabbing her chin and jolting her face forward again he came close enough to her face that she could feel the heat of his breath as he growled "Now, answer my question. Did you know Roy Mustang before then?"

VVVVVVWWWWWWWVVVVVVVV

Looking down at his watch, the Colonel was a bit irked that his faithful Lieutenant had the nerve to show up late the day after chiding him about his punctuality. It was now going on ten minutes after nine, 'Where is she?' He wondered. He scanned over his men busy at work with their paperwork as he paced back to the window for what had to be the hundredth time in the last hour.

VVVVVVVVWWWWWWWWWWVVVVVVV

Riza bit back the yelp of surprise that came after the slap. Instead of answering the man she did her best to grin through the man's tight grip on her face and taunted her captors, "Is that all you have? I think my grandmother could slap harder than th-"

Her insult was cut short by a swift punch to the stomach, and with the light blinding her, she couldn't have seen it coming. The force of the hit caused a chain reaction as the back of her head bounced against the wall behind her. As she gasped for air and tried to will herself to stay conscious the man repeated his question. "Ms. Hawkeye. Would you be so kind as to tell us just how far you and Colonel Mustang actually go back?" he sneered at her with a fake air of politeness. "Just tell us what we want to know."

Riza was trying to get enough air to give the man a response, probably not the one he was looking for anyways, when she felt another fist collide with her cheek. Instantly blackness crept into her vision slowly closing off what little she could see and she felt her body going limp yet again. Seconds from unconsciousness she was brought back around by smelling salts placed under her nose. She gagged as the fumes raced down her throat and consumed what felt like all of the air in her throat and lungs. Returning to consciousness and trying to get away from the unpleasant fumes burning in her chest she gasped for air and heard one the men arguing.

"Hey idiot, you know Bruno won't appreciate you busting her face up. He told us both that she needs to be able to see him if the need arises."

"What, I thought you wanted some answers. I figured a tap to the jaw oughta loosen her lips a bit."

On the edge of her vision she could see the toe of one of the men's shoes as they were bickering. Ridding herself of the blood that accumulated in her mouth she spat in the direction of the shoe, hoping that she would hit one of them. She wasn't disappointed when she heard a few choice exclamations from behind the spotlight. She could hear the man moving to hit her and instinctively she tucked her head in between her arms to protect her face. The last thing she needed was to be in a constant state of concussions, "NO!" she yelled at them. The effort of forcing the word out caused her some dizziness since she was still rather short on getting air.

Confused the man stopped, his open hand halfway on its path to her face again. "No?" the man snickered and turned to the others, "Did she just say no?"

"No what," the man who seemed to be in charge asked.

"No, I didn't know the Colonel before Ishbal. I was assigned to be his bodyguard there," Riza clarified. Talking wasn't easy with so much blood filling her mouth, but she had a weak hope that these men would believe her.

The man, presumably the one without a bloody shoe, laughed. At first it was simply an amused chuckle that erupted into full out laughter. He stepped into the light next to Riza, "Liar," he whispered in her ear just before her world went black again.

VVVVVVVWWWWWWVVVVVVVV

At 9:30 Roy picked up the phone to call Maes. He spun his chair away from the direction of his subordinates desks in an attempt at privacy.

"Investigat-"

"Maes, it's me."

"Oh, Colonel Mustang! Well isn't this a nice surprise to hear from you this early in the morning! I know you're calling about the pictures of Elicia that I took the other day, don't worry..." Roy held the receiver away from his ear for a full three minutes before attempting to cut in.

"Maes."

"...and with Glacier's new dress..."

"Maes," by this point Mustang's eyebrow had begun to twitch.

"...she was playing chef in the garden, she made the most ADORable mud pies for des-"

"MAES!"

"Yes?" Maes replied as if he hadn't just rambled on forever about the afternoon with his wife and daughter.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye hasn't shown up to work yet." Roy stated.

"Excuse me? Really? Did you two have a long night last nig-"

"Maes! Be serious. All of my men say that she is here before them every morning, and yet she's still not here. How long before I can file a missing persons report?"

"Whoa, you can't be serious. I mean, I know she's a good soldier but think about it Roy, there's a lot of places she could be. At the range, in a meeting, in the library. Heaven forbid she actually might have overslept one time in her career." Maes explained to Mustang. He really couldn't believe that he would try to file a missing person's report after an hour. "Is everything O.K?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess I jumped the gun there. I'll call you later," and with that Mustang hung up. Really, was he being paranoid? Something just didn't feel right about this morning, but he still couldn't put his finger on it. He knew full well that had she planned on being anywhere else he would've been told when she was with him last night. Frustrated and in need of keeping his composure he muttered something to the men about keeping up the good work and he left the office.


	7. The Tardy Gunslinger

Riza was only partially relieved that the darkness that overcame her wasn't in fact her body giving up on functioning for the third or fourth time, but a black bag over her head. She thought to herself that her captors watched too many movies to think that such measures were necessary. She laughed considering knowing where they went didn't matter when push came to shove she was prepared for anything. It dawned on her as they were tugging her along that they hadn't done as much 'homework' as they claimed. They weren't aware there was nothing they could do to save themselves as long as she was alive now that she knew who they were and had so kindly gathered in one place. Now as long as she could keep her senses with her she was sure this would all be over soon. One way or another.

VVVVVVVVWWWWWWWWVVVVVVVVVVV

Roy went directly to Gen. Gruman's secretary to ask about any possible morning meetings that he might have scheduled with his granddaughter without notifying Roy. Considering he was one of the few uncorrupted generals in the entire military Roy looked up to the man as if he was his own grandfather, and therefore was one of the few people that was allowed to steal Riza away from him from time to time without Roy's permission. Seemingly unconcerned as to why he couldn't find his lieutenant this early in the morning, Mustang thanked the secretary for not concerning the general about his inquiry and left the office commenting that she must have lost track of time at the range.

While nonchalant in his demeanor as he made his way to the next possible place she could be, his thoughts were flying around his mind in utter chaos. The later it got, the more and more strange it was that no one had heard from her, not even so much as to call in sick. She had left his apartment not more than nine hours ago and somewhere along the line something happened. He knew in his gut there was no way that she was ever so sick as to not call and tell him, she never was late because of the range, in fact she was so systematic there that people set their watches according to it. If there was something to detain her at the library he was sure there would've been mention of it before, and if she hadn't been in a meeting with her grandfather then there were very few possibilities left.

As he walked down the hall towards the investigations department with a semi-permanent scowl on his face that covered his auto pilot mentality someone called down the hall after him. He stopped and turned around not recognizing the voice as a petty officer hurried up to him.

"Sir," the officer snapped a brisk salute and continued, "I'm glad I noticed you passing by, your lieutenant hasn't come by to pick up your new cases…" the officer babbled on for a moment as Mustang realized he was going to have to look for the rest of his men since they obviously haven't found the right place to pick up the day's work yet. He made a mental note of it to give them directions later so that they could still run like a well oiled machine when Hawkeye wasn't here. The very thought of that threatened to take his mind to dark places but the absence of babbling snapped his attention back to the person in front of him.

The officer looked a little intimidated at the lack of a response and began to apologize for bothering the colonel who was clearly concerned with other matters at the moment. "Don't be silly," Roy managed a smile for the nervous officer. "I'll be on my way to my own office soon enough. Thank you for your attentiveness, I'll be sure to send recommendations to your superior for your good work Officer Figgins." Roy took the day's paperwork from the now delighted petty officer and continued on his way to Maes' office.

Well at least having the day's paperwork will give him some distraction while he figured out where Riza was, he thought to himself as he arrived at the Investigations Department. If there were new cases that he could send the guys out to investigate it would at least keep them too occupied to watch him become a nervous wreck. He tucked them under his arm and walked in.

Maes didn't seem all too surprised to see Mustang show up at his desk. He was ready with a reassuring smile and a handshake for his best friend.

"No wonder you're not married Mustang, you're only female company is unaccounted for, for one whole hour and you have a panic attack. Get used to it my friend, women live to keep you on edge."

He earned an eye roll from Roy and a smile. "You have to admit Hughes that it's not like her to be unaccounted for."

"That is true Mustang. But really, do you think there isn't some meeting or something of the like on her books that you've overlooked?" Hughes offered his sane, rational thoughts that Mustang hadn't thought of yet. It's exactly the reason he was glad that he stopped in to see him. Maes had a way of putting him at ease in person. It's a wonder that he'd be anywhere at all without Hughes and Hawkeye helping him out.

"I have in fact checked in with all of the usual suspects that would detain her, thank you very much. However, you make a good point in checking her appointment book. She normally mentions things to me ahead of time, but I suppose even she's human, eh?" He really hoped that was it. He smirked about getting her all hot and bothered before she left last night and figured that would have been an acceptable reason for forgetting to mention an early meeting. He wiped the smirk off his face before his friend got suspicious, not that Hughes didn't have his mind in the gutter at all times anyways. "Well guess I should be getting back up there to look into it. Besides," he gestured to the folders in his hand, "the guys will be needing these before they get too comfortable."

"You will let me know when your future wife gets in won't you?" Maes nagged, with the slightest hint of actual concern.

Mustang chose to ignore his comment as he turned to leave and instead snapped his fingers sending a few sparks towards some important looking stacks of paper on Hughes' desk. He chuckled as he heard exclamations from behind him and something about not being able to take a joke being yelled down the hallway.

Upon returning to the office Mustang found the men sitting at their desks. Havoc was chewing on a pencil with his feet up on his desk while reading the newspaper. Breda and Fuery had pushed their desks apart and were trying to reconstruct the famous Xing capital bridge between them with paper clips. Falman seemed to have about half of his days work done already and had taken a break to make bets on whose side of the bridge would be finished first and in the most stylish manner. Roy cleared his throat and at least managed to get their attention, knowing full well that had Hawkeye ever seen the office in such a state the men would have been pissing themselves in fear to cover up their shenanigans. Another matter for another day he thought.

"I noticed that you guys didn't manage to find the daily office?" He commented while holding up the files for all to see.

Remembering that there had been something to do resulted in a flood of excuses and stories about how going to stop for coffee had gone horribly wrong and somewhere along the line they saved Fuery's life and Breda had jumped into Falman's arms after a stray dog ran across the street in front of them. Normally Mustang would be amused by his team's antics however his worry about Hawkeye was mounting and since she was not here to keep them in line the duty fell to him. He split up the stack four ways and tossed them on their desks. The impact caused Breda's half of the bridge to dislodge from its pencil holder support and crash to the floor, resulting in a quick payoff between Falman and Havoc before getting down to business.

After things settled down Mustang went over to Riza's desk and opened the top left drawer. He was fairly confident that was where she kept her appointment book, and with a quick glance under her emergency romance novel that none of the other men knew she kept, he found what he was looking for. Taking it out, he flipped through it until he found the current week's page. Just like he thought there weren't any special notes to explain her absence. Perturbed he slid the book back into the drawer and closed it.

To keep himself sane he walked by his subordinate's desks and scooped up the top file off of each stack. Each of the men shot glances at him when he walked by but they weren't going to question it. They knew the Colonel would be getting agitated about Hawkeye's absence and didn't mind him opting for busy work over rage or pacing. He sat down and flipped through the first folder.

'A pastry shop was ransacked and nothing was noted missing, however the shop owner was distraught at the flour covering every inch of the shop…really? Why is this the military's concern at all?' Roy closed the folder with a grunt of disgust and wrote "RETURN TO LOCAL JURISDICTION" in bold red letters. He underlined it thrice as an afterthought and threw the folder aside.

'Possible Scar sighting on west side of Amestris. No suspicious deaths reported fitting Scar's profile in the area. Witness: 53 year old man, color blind, poor night vision, saw tall dark man wearing cloak and red glasses… again, really? Clearly this man wants the reward for helpful information leading to Scar's arrest. This report was the opposite of helpful. It was a useless waste of time that I could be using to search for my lieutenant.' Roy muttered a little louder than he intended, causing some of the men to glance up from their work.

It was getting uncomfortably quiet in the office with the mystery of Hawkeye's absence hanging in the air. Roy glanced up at the clock on the wall not realizing how late it had gotten into the day. It was close enough to lunch that he could send the men out a little early, so he dismissed the group that were grateful enough to get out of the office.

VVVVVVVVWWWWWWWWWWWVVVVVVVVV

Riza stumbled into another overly bright room and despite the bag on her face she knew that these guys would deserve every bullet she could put in them for the stupid spotlights alone. The bag was ripped off taking a few strands of hair along with it adding just that much more pain to her aching head. When she could manage to get her bearings she turned around until the bright light was out of her face. From what she could see through the slits in her eyelids this room was no more helpful in giving her clues as to where she was than the last one.

"Look all you want Ms. Hawkeye, you can't find an escape from here," the man who was in charge rumbled in her general direction. She stood upright and turned back to face him, shielding her eyes with one of her arms that decided to cooperate with her. She found it odd that no one was harassing her at the moment, physically anyway. The man snickered, "Bruno's on his way. We don't feel much like playing games just for the answer to a simple question."

Something told her that this wasn't going to be good. "It might take him a while to get here so go ahead and make yourself comfortable," she squinted as she followed his pointed finger to a disgusting mattress on the opposite side of the room. She hadn't seen it when they pushed her in here but the sight of the stains on it nearly made her ill. "Oh, and we'll tell him to be careful with your head. It wouldn't do us any good to damage it much more, at least not until we get full use of you…" The man chuckled again to himself and turned to walk away. She heard him tell one of the men to stand guard at the door until Bruno came, and had been told to use any means necessary to keep her there.

There was a foreboding tone to the way the man told her they wanted to make 'full use' of her. Riza didn't like the signs that were adding up between the looks on the men's faces when Bruno was mentioned, that statement, and that foul mattress in the corner. Determined to get to know her surroundings better she moved to the annoying spot light in the center of the back wall and began to shine it around the room. No longer blinded by being in front of that light she could see what little there was to see in the dreary room. Aside from the mattress and the light itself, there were few objects there. She did see more fixtures on the walls, probably for detaining other people like she had been earlier. One had a pair of bloody handcuffs still partially attached to it, one cuff was securely attached to the bar while the other hung open, waiting for someone else. She continued looking around the room, barely pausing to dwell on how little she had to her advantage. There were no windows, and only one door. One guarded door rather, which left her with one route of escape. 'Well,' she thought to herself with a sense of grim satisfaction, 'I've been in worse situations before… I'm sure.'

VVVVVVWWWWWWWWWWWVVVVVVVVV

Roy shuffled back to his desk to look at the last file. He was starting to wonder who was responsible for letting such menial complaints clog up the military's already overwhelmed staff. He glanced at the final file, "dog-napping on Main Street- oh for the love of- I'm seriously going to have to figure out who is in charge of this nonsense!" Roy exclaimed aloud to an empty office. He marked the folder to be returned to the local police and threw it aside with the others. He decided that he would try to eat a quick bite though he doubted that he would really be able to handle much. After that he would seek out Maes again and make him help look for Hawkeye if he had to literally light his pants on fire.

Roy grabbed his coat and put his hand on the door knob when the knob turned and the door all but knocked him over on the way in. The men came back from lunch early, evidently not able to stomach much either on account of their trigger happy comrade not turning up. Well all except for Breda who seemed particularly adapted to eating regardless of the current circumstance. If Mustang recalled correctly he had seen Breda contently eating his lunch on the day that someone thought it would be a great idea to sneak a stink bomb on the grounds. Roy lost any appetite he did have upon recalling the foul smell of the office that day.

Coming back to present the Colonel caught a few words that Fuery had been saying to the men as they came in. Something about one of his files today. A suspected kidnapping in a small park, or something like that?

"Fuery I want that report. Now." Mustang didn't feel there was much time for niceties, the knot of panic was winding tighter in his stomach as the name of the park Fuery mentioned struck a chord of familiarity with him. It was the park in between his apartment and Riza's.


	8. Hell Hath No Fury

Roy's eyes scanned over the report as his men turned concerned looks towards each other.

"Chief's on to something," Havoc murmured going to his desk and getting his pistol ready. The others followed suit and readied themselves to follow the trail that Mustang seemed to pick up. At lunch Havoc had recognized the name of the park from driving Mustang home from time to time and also knew that Hawkeye being the dutiful bodyguard she was, would check in on the boss on a fairly regular basis. When he had put two and two together he told the men to head back to the office to bring the report to Mustang's attention, just in case it had anything to do with her.

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Riza didn't realize she had drifted off to sleep when she woke with a sudden noise. She had sat down against the wall across from the doorway to size up the man guarding the room and she must have let her condition get the best of her. 'I could've missed an opportunity,' she chastised herself. Shaking herself out of her sleepiness she looked up and noticed a rather large man coming into the room. 'This must be the man himself,' she braced herself for another round of questioning.

"So, Boss says that you're a stubborn one, eh girlie?" Bruno sounded like every bit of the giant he turned out to be when he stood face to face with Riza in the center of the room. His deep voice reverberated off the walls of the room, and startled the still sleepy lieutenant. She was becoming a bit alarmed at her inability to stay focused and attentive as her sniper training should have conditioned her for, but at the moment she had to try to figure out a way around this brute.

"Your boss doesn't know jack," was the best she could come up with. The sinking feeling about Bruno set in even harder as he gave a devilish grin and tried to come closer to her. She managed to dodge his first attempt to grab her by backing up, but it wasn't a wise idea to move so fast. Her head began to swim as she tried to force her body into submission. He laughed at her attempts at evasion. 'Probably not a good sign,' she thought to herself as she steadied herself against one of the walls. He came at her again with a speed she hadn't expected out of a man so large and couldn't make her legs cooperate fast enough to get away. He hadn't even tried to lay a hand on her that time so much as throw his entire body into her, slamming her against the wall.

Somehow she prevented her head from colliding with the concrete of the wall, but that was as far as her luck held. The big brute had her pinned against the wall and was breathing down her neck. Carefully Bruno worked a hand down to her shoulder and entertained himself by slowly following her arm down to her hand, watching her reaction as he touched her. He could tell she was pissed off, she had begun to breath harder and gritted her teeth in a fruitless attempt to struggle free of his grasp. The man was just too big for the half conscious woman, half his size to have any effect on.

"Do you know why they send me in after girls like you?" He crooned in her ear. The only answer he received being a snort and an attempted jab with her elbow into his side. He laughed as he jerked her arm and used his raw strength to twist it painfully behind her back. Riza couldn't help but to cry out at the sharp pain. For the first time in a long time she felt helpless, and the constant pain in her head threatened to combine with the new pain of her arm being damn near dislocated to overwhelm her completely.

She could hear a commotion as the other men must've entered the room to watch Bruno work. The 'boss man' walked over to her, getting right in her face with his smug smile and asked her once again, "Are you so sure that you didn't know Col. Mustang before the war? I could save you from Bruno if you just answer. Really it's very simple." He didn't seem to have any intention of stopping the big brute from having his fun and was more amused by seeing the fury in her eyes when he asked his ridiculous question.

"I told you I didn't," she reminded him. He chuckled at her stubbornness and addressed the man holding her.

"You know Bruno," the Boss said standing upright to talk to the large man. "I hear there is some interesting artwork on Ms. Hawkeye's back. How about you get around to finding out what it is. We'll be back in a few minutes." The man shot her another smug look as he walked out of the room, and Bruno was more than happy to start his task.

'How did he know!' Riza truly began to worry about the validity of Roy's claims that these men were far more dangerous than the usual thugs they dealt with. Unfortunately Bruno didn't give her a whole lot of time to dwell on past conversations as he stepped back and with a swift shove, threw her towards the ugly mattress. Due to her lack of coordination she lost her balance and fell on it as her attempts of catching herself failed. She knew she had to act quick, and rolled off of the filthy thing before Bruno came crashing down where she would have been. The spinning not helping matters at all she only managed to avoid enough of his free falling mass to not get trapped underneath the hulking body. But as she tried to regain her footing to put distance between them, his huge hand easily wrapped around her leg and yanked.

Riza landed on her belly as her feet were literally swept out from under her. Bruno was having himself a grand time playing cat and mouse with her, and she was quickly running out of ideas as to how to avoid him. She heard him make some comment about liking to play rough, and she had no doubt that this man didn't have the capacity to lie about something like that. The man didn't bother dragging her back to the mattress and instead chose to get up and sit on her to keep her pinned to the ground. As he began to try and find a way around her sweater and shirt, she felt panic set in. She could not let him find it. She summoned the fleeting strength she had and started thrashing about with everything she had left.

She was getting tired, and the big lug on top of her was making it even harder to breathe and she didn't really know what she was trying to accomplish by flailing. Bruno had managed to get her sweater tugged up and was working on getting her shirt untucked. She didn't have the time for being helpless. Suddenly her foot caught on the tripod that the light was attached to and she took her chance to stop Bruno. With a swift motion Riza pulled the stand towards them and hoped that it would fall on Bruno. It didn't do anything. 'Shit,' she hooked her legs underneath it again knowing that this would be her last chance before the big guy caught on to her. The light came toppling down just as he finally yanked the back of her shirt out, the top heavy stand falling directly towards them.

With a startled grunt Bruno turned to see what the noise was and was met with a hot, bright light in his face. Riza kept her face to the floor as the bulb shattered on contact with the big man's head and plunged the room into darkness. As the man became more concerned about the hot glass that now covered his face, he sprang up in pain screaming profanities at her. She took the chance to take a deep breath and get up off the floor. The broken glass covering it stuck in her hands as she pushed herself up, but she ignored the pain and began to look something to take Bruno out with. As she moved around she literally tripped over the answer, the damn light stand. Bruno heard the commotion she made falling back to the ground and began coming towards her growling unsavory threats. However to her advantage the darkness of the room made her hard to locate, and it gave her the time she needed to get up and get a grip on the stand. Knowing he was only a breath away she started swinging, as hard as she could manage, low hoping to hit the brute where it hurt.

A yelp of pain let her know she had hit her mark, and she heard a thud as the man went to his knees. Using the sound of his whining to locate his face she took another swing with the stand and luck was with her again as the whining ceased and with another thud his body hit the floor. The force of the hit tore the stand from her grip as it went skidding into the darkness of the room, but at that point she didn't care. She was sure the man wasn't getting up anytime soon. She couldn't hear him breathe, and she hoped that he had landed on his face and would choke to death before he woke up.

Riza looked around to no avail. The room was completely dark, and she couldn't see a thing. Knowing that at least one of the men was just outside the door and probably heard the commotion, she wanted to find the door and be prepared to take him out whenever he did come in. As quickly as she could manage, she put her hands out in front of her and shuffled forward. The room wasn't that big and she knew she'd hit a wall sooner or later.

Just as she thought the man outside came knocking on the door to check on things.

"Hey Bruno, everything all right in there? You're not getting too rough with her are ya?" he yelled through the door. Silence greeted him the man's laughter at his own commentary subsided. "Hey Bruno?" His voice entirely void of laughter as he realized something wasn't right.

Riza steeled her nerves and prepared to take the man by surprise.

VVVVVVVWWWWWWWWVVVVVVVVVVVV

Roy's eyes widened as he read the kidnapping report. A man taking his dog out for a late night walk around 00:35 reported hearing a commotion in the park as he walked by. From about a block away he claimed to have seen a woman go through the small grove of trees that were in the center of the park where he lost sight of her. When the man came closer to the park he reported seeing a man 'come from out of nowhere' and disappear into the trees as well. He heard a sound similar to a glass bottle breaking open and then nothing after that. Later that morning the same man walked his dog to the park again and decided to walk his dog through the trees. The man made the report after finding a broken bottle of chloroform thrown to the side of the pathway and realized he hadn't witnessed a late night rendezvous. The report was filed at 08:30 this morning.

Roy had never been more relieved that his men were late in getting the paperwork that morning. If they had taken it on time, this report would've waited until tomorrow. The timing in the report and the location were just too coincidental for his liking. The Colonel had barely barked orders at them when he tore out of the office over towards the Investigations building to rally Hughes and a few other detectives into looking further into the report. This was what his intuition had been warning him about, he'd have to remember to really give that petty officer a promotion when all was said and done, but for now he knew he had to act.

VVVVVVVVWWWWWWWWVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The door opened slowly and Riza realized she had the good luck to on the backside of it, and her luck improved when the first thing she saw come through the door was a gun. The man was confused by the darkness of the room and stopped to call out for Bruno again. The next sound he made was a cry of pain as Riza slammed the door against the man's arm causing him to pull the trigger on the gun. The bullet slammed into the wall harmlessly as she brought her fist down on his hand to force him to release the gun. The man jerked his arm out of the doorway with a startled cry and Riza took the chance to lunge for the gun he dropped. Finding it easily, the light from the hallway sparkled off of the polished metal, she grabbed it and turned towards the door. Once again it was obvious these men hadn't done their homework as the man tried to re enter the room with the now armed sniper, he never knew what happened. His body fell through the doorway and landed with an unempathetic thud as she scurried out of the way.

She gathered herself and stepped out in the hallway making a mental list of the men between her and Roy. Two down, that should make three to go according to the files… but she only remembered hearing two other men in the building today. She berated herself for not remembering things clearly when she first got here, but it is a little difficult to concentrate when one is only partially conscious. She popped the clip out of the gun to check her ammunition. She still had 11 rounds to go. Satisfied she re-loaded the gun and stealthily made her way down the hall to find the others.

She heard the noise of a chair sliding against the floor coming from a room just down the hall. Flattening herself against the wall she waited to see if anyone came out. After a moment of holding her breath all she heard was some things being shuffled around and a man humming to himself, but it seemed that he had no intention of coming out. She moved away from the wall and carefully made her way to the doorway. Peering in she saw one of her captors making himself a sandwich. She was tempted to shoot him outright but didn't know if anyone else was nearby to hear. As long as she had the element of surprise she could ensure the tide turning in her favor and getting out of this place in one piece. She slipped into the room unheard and briefly glanced around to check her surroundings. Thankfully no one else was there.

She moved just to the side of the door so that no one would see her if anyone happened to pass by. Aiming the gun at the back of the man's head she cleared her throat to get his attention. The man clearly not expecting company dropped the slice of bread he had been buttering and tightened his grip on the knife in his other hand. Slowly he turned to see who it was and laughed when he saw her. It wasn't until he fully turned around that he noticed she had him in the sights of a pistol.

"Now what's the big idea miss? Didn't like the way Bruno treated you?" He threw his hands up in the air as if the gesture of vulnerability would help him.

"Who else is here?" Riza spat out, never wavering in her aim although her body was so very tired.

"Why, you're still up for a party?" the man replied with a smirk and a wink. Clearly he just didn't know when to shut up.

If it wouldn't have been too much noise she'd have shot him in the groin to show her disapproval of his lewd comment. "I'm much better at shooting than asking questions, if you don't answer then I don't need to waste my time with you." She cocked the gun to emphasize her point.

The smile effectively wiped off the man's face he stammered out the names of the two other men she suspected were still there and where she could expect to find them. As thanks for his cooperation she shot him between the eyes and turned to leave before his body slumped against the counter he had been standing by. She needed to make sure none of these bastards lived to hurt Roy later on down the line and the more of them she got rid of on her way back to him the better.

She headed out of the room in search of the last two men. It wasn't long before she heard a man in the main room laughing at something on the television that was turned up way too loud. It bothered her that she couldn't really tell where the man was amid all the noise the tv caused, and as she prepared to scout the room she felt a cold steel barrel on her neck.

"Don't move lieutenant."


	9. The Escape

AN: Thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in the story so far. This was intended to be the last chapter of the story but I typed and typed until several pages went by and I realized this chapter was already too long to try and end it here. Enjoy! And don't be afraid to feed the author reviews. No one likes a starving author.

In a matter of minutes Roy was banging on Maes' office door like a mad man. He needed his friend to order a more thorough military investigation of the case so that his men had jurisdiction. He couldn't risk anyone trying to butt into this. Very few within the military knew about the recent threat to his and his lieutenant's lives and he had kept it that way to keep suspicion about Hawkeye to a minimum. The brass could not be trusted with such delicate information and he didn't want to risk her being transferred out from under his supervision.

'Where the hell is he?' Roy thought desperately. He tried to calm down remembering that no one else would so much as bother themselves with what seemed to be a civilian case and he needed to remain level headed. He stood outside the locked door for what felt like hours leaning against the wall trying to look bored when he saw Hughes walking in from lunch. Roy glanced down at his watch and realized he'd only been there for about three minutes and Hughes was right on time coming back from his lunch break. He really needed to take it easy. He gathered himself and waved at Hughes as if nothing was out of place. His friend knew differently.

"Colonel Mustang, what a surprise seeing you here!" Hughes exclaimed without any hint of surprise at all. "You must have come to see the pictures of my baby girl I was telling you about this morning!"

Mustang grinned, grateful for his friend's ever loving ability to be obnoxious. "Not now Hughes, maybe later though. I need a favor of you."

"Did you find your sharp shooter yet?"

"Oh I'm sure she'll turn up sooner or later. I heard there was a competition coming up, she's probably training for it." Maes didn't believe a word that his friend said but understood they needed to find a place better suited for private conversation.

"Well that's good to hear. You coming in?" He gestured to his office.

Roy followed him in the office and as soon as the door was shut Maes had the case file in his hand.

"What's this?"

"Maes I need to you give my unit jurisdiction on this case. I think someone saw Hawkeye being kidnapped last night."

Maes looked Roy in the face to see if his friend had lost his marbles. When he saw nothing but sane conviction he knew that Roy had been right to worry about her not showing up today. He looked down at the file in his hand and began to read. "Roy, this is near your apartment. And pretty late at night… What makes you think it's…" Hughes paused. "Was Hawkeye with you last night?" He looked up at Mustang.

"Hughes, she came by after finishing up at the office. One of those assholes slipped a letter under the door while she was there and she came to give it to me."

"At midnight?" he looked at Mustang incredulously. "I know she's your right hand man and all, but isn't that a little late for house calls?"

"Have you ever tried telling her not to do something?" Mustang tried to make light of it, failing. "Look Hughes, she came over to deliver the letter and I assume she walked home from there. She lives on the other side of that park!" He pointed to the folder. "She left late, I guess I forgot paperwork here yesterday and she stayed to finish it. So it was about midnight when she arrived at my door," Roy fudged the time that she actually showed up figuring half an hour didn't raise much of a case for suspicious activity.

Hughes sighed. "Alright Roy. You've got it. You better have a good cover for taking this case without any military interest."

"I'll worry about it later Hughes, I just need to get out there and find out where they took her."

VVVVVVWWWWWWWWWVVVVVV

The man had gotten the jump on her. She didn't know how he ended up behind her without her noticing but she made a mental note that if she lived through this she would need to put in for a more intense training course to keep her sharp. Roy needed the best to watch his back, she needed to make sure she stayed the best.

The man shoved her into the room in front of them. "Hey boss, look who I found walking around." The portly man in the room finished mixing himself a drink and turned around to address his underling.

"You're turning out to be more trouble than you're worth to me little lady." The boss remarked at her. He took a sip of his drink while he took a moment to think, "Sit her on the couch."

The man behind her gave her a good shove towards the couch and Riza made a little show out of it. Trying to fight enough to not raise suspicion, she managed to hide her gun while 'struggling' against the man. Thankful the man had assumed she was empty handed when he found her in the hall she hoped to have a surprise for the two men when the time came. Maybe she could find out why these men had been after Roy in the mean time and find out if there were any others she should know about.

"Ms. Hawkeye," the round man turned his attention back to her and didn't waste any time getting to the point. "We know who your father was. We know who his student was. We know who you really are to Colonel Mustang." The boss approached her from behind the couch and put his hand on her shoulder. She kept looking forward at the ugly wall in front of her, frozen in shock at what she had just heard. The man leaned down next to her face and continued, "What we don't know is where your father hid the key to controlling flame alchemy." His other hand snaked around her neck as she stiffened. He yanked the back of her shirt down revealing the top of her intricate tattoo. "We know that Roy Mustang didn't understand it before your father died. So that leaves you, and this very pretty sketch you have here as our best clue."

Riza had no idea who this man was. She had no idea how he knew about her family, or her tattoo or Roy studying with her father. What she did know was that this man was too dangerous to live.

"Colonel Mustang could figure this secret out when he was barely old enough to enter the military. I'm sure we could figure it out too." He tightened his grip on her shoulder. "Can't we?"

Riza heard the cocking of a gun behind her head. "I think, Ms. Hawkeye, you're of more use to me dead." Her hand on her gun she twisted her body trying to avoid the gun pointed at her head. The man now above her realized she was armed about two seconds too late. He squeezed off one round before she planted three bullets in his chest. As he fell over dead she sat up on the couch looking for the man that had brought her in from the hallway. She saw him ducking behind the bar. Rolling completely off the couch and situating herself behind her barrier she set her sights on the bar and waited for the man to show his face.

She didn't have to wait long for the man to put his gun over the bar and fire a few shots. None of them were aimed and none hit anything important, his gun was too high up for him to even hope to hit the couch she was behind. She waited to fire her gun until she had a better idea where the man was. The bar he was hiding behind was poorly made, and from what she could see she was sure she could get a bullet or two through it and take the man out. A minute or two passed and the man stuck his head up to see if she was still alive. She unloaded three more rounds through the bar and the man went down with a groan. Riza stood up and cautiously and made her way over to the bar to make sure the man was dead. She noticed as she stood up that her side was cold, putting a hand to her side to feel it she felt wetness. She hadn't even noticed that the boss had actually managed to hit her with all the commotion. 'Shit, let's hope that's not serious.'

She moved over to the bar to check on the man behind it. Looking around the other side she saw the man rolled over on his side and blood but she couldn't see where he'd been hit. Pistol trained on him she moved around to kick the man onto his back when he rolled over ready gun in his hand. She reacted before she ever registered what happened. They shot at the same time. Half of his head was missing when she opened her eyes again and there was an intense burning in her shoulder where his slug had found a home.

Knowing that she didn't have much time to get help and pressing her hand on her increasingly painful side wound to try to stop the bleeding she looked around the room for a way out. She saw one door that she didn't think she had come through before and headed towards it. Luck was with her and she found herself outside the apartment in the hallway. A few feet to the right she saw an elevator, 'this is almost too easy.' She thought to herself going over to it and pushing the button with the star next to it. The door opened almost immediately and she made her way to the main floor.

VVVVVVVWWWWWWWWWWWVVVVVVV

Mustang and the rest of the men jumped in the cars and headed out in the direction of the park. Havoc was driving the Colonel in the front of the group and looking in his rearview mirror he could see the concern for their missing comrade written all over his face,

"I'm sure she's alright Chief. She's the toughest one out of all of us." Havoc tried to reassure him.

Mustang kept his gaze turned out the window.

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The elevator couldn't have been slower. That or these men had lived so far under the ground that they paid rent to the devil. She was more inclined to think the second. She had enough time waiting for this thing to reach the main floor that she started to worry about running into civilians covered in blood. She didn't have any way of covering it up, so there really wasn't much she could do about it if anyone saw her. Her thoughts focused on Roy and getting back to him to make sure he was safe. The men said they left him be, but they also said they wanted the secrets to his alchemy and they might not have had the patience to wait for an answer from her.

She heard a 'ding' as the doors of the elevator opened on the main floor. Quickly scanning the lobby floor for any people, she didn't see a soul around. She hurried to the doors leading outside, but she wasn't quiet expecting the bright light of mid afternoon. Her head pounded as he eyes tried to get accustomed to the outside world. As she went to shield her eyes from the sun she realized the arm that the last man shot was being difficult in cooperating with her. Riza knew she needed to get help quickly as she scanned the parking lot. She couldn't believe it. Three military issued vehicles sat in the lot.

She tucked the gun she had into her waistline and hurried over to the vehicles. "You have got to be kidding me," she murmured looking into the window. "They left the keys in the car." This seemed entirely too good to be true, but she was sure that none of the men inside would be after her any time so she got in and started the car.

VVVVVWWWWWWWWVVVVVVVV

The men arrived on the scene of the crime and found very little to confirm or dissuade Roy's fears. The military presence did more to disrupt the quiet of the neighborhood as cars slowed down to catch a glance at whatever was going on. On-lookers were disappointed with how little action they saw. It was mostly just men standing around talking to each other and a few poking around in the bushes. The men had found the broken bottle lying amongst the trees, but it didn't leave any clues to what happened. There was nothing to connect Hawkeye to the park at all.

Roy was staring across the grove to the building that she lived in. Cursing himself for not keeping her with him last night, telling himself he could have kept her safe. "Second Lieutenant!"

Havoc was at his side within seconds, "Yeah chief?" Jean had a look of concern about him because he had seen that there was nothing at the park to point them in any direction.

"You remember where Lieutenant Hawkeye lives?"

"Of course Sir."

"Go check and make sure we're not making complete assholes of ourselves," Mustang gave him a glare that meant business. With that Havoc gave him a quick salute and headed off in the direction of her apartment. Mustang knew that she wouldn't answer but it didn't hurt to check. If she answered he knew he would owe Hughes an apology and he just hated that.

VVVVVVWWWWWVVVVVV

Riza pulled out of the parking lot trying to get her bearings in this part of town. She recognized the area but only vaguely, as it was the business district of town and there had never been much of a reason for Mustang to be over here. Therefore she hadn't been there very often either. But she knew if she could find Main Street and headed south that she would hit the base eventually.

She had been driving for a few minutes when she was compelled to look in the rearview mirror. There was a car flying down the road behind her seemingly out of control. As it came closer to her she recognized the driver. Bruno.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she slammed on the gas. She couldn't believe she hadn't shot him when she got the gun from the door guard. She thought he was dead!

Up ahead she saw the sign for Main St and she pushed the car a little harder to make it before the furious man behind her caught up. She forced the car to take the turn far too fast and the tires made a loud protest of it. Bruno went flying through the intersection too fast to follow her but he did clip her rear bumper on the way through, nearly sending her car over the line into oncoming traffic. Riza clenched her teeth and gripped the wheel as she barely avoided the oncoming traffic. Straightening out the car and flooring the gas pedal as the sound of angry horns faded into the distance, she worried about staying ahead of the madman behind her.

She looked around her and down the ally ways of the streets she passed. Suddenly there he was, screeching to a halt and sliding into the intersection in front of her. Riza cursed under her breath and swerved to avoid hitting him. She missed most of it but couldn't avoid the trunk of the car. She gritted her teeth to cope with the pain the jolt caused as the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass filled the air. Despite the contact she realized that if she hit the gas now she might be able to get past him and push his car out of the way. If she could turn his car around it would give her some much needed time to put distance between them. She had nothing to lose at this point by trying it so she did. To her surprise, despite the groaning of metal on metal as her car shoved his out of the way, the idea worked and she squeaked past.

Her relief was short lived as she realized that she was going to have to come up with a better solution than running. The longer this chase went on the more risk there was to the civilians out on the street, and the more risk she put herself in by driving until she bleed to death. She was already beginning to feel light headed and having a tough time keeping the car between the lines. The gunshot to her side was costing her precious time, as she looked down at it she saw her other hand covered with blood. But next to her hand she saw the solution to ending this chase and taking Bruno out once and for all. The gun. She had forgotten she even had it when she started driving. Now she had to focus long enough to remember how many bullets she still had left so she could make every one of them count.

A quick glance in the mirror and she saw it had taken him less time to turn around than she had hoped. But then again if you don't care about knocking over fire hydrants and flower carts when you turn around then it really doesn't take much time to do it.

'Come on Riza, focus!' she berated herself again. She returned her thoughts to the gun chamber, 'I had 11 when I first checked, guy in the kitchen was 10, the boss got 9, 8, and 7…' Her attention returned to the mirror and she saw the Bruno barreling down the road as far as his ruined car could take him. 'Fuck! Alright, how many did I use on the last man?' She remembered shooting three rounds through the bar taking her down to 4 rounds. Being taken by surprise when she approached the last body caused her to lose track of how many rounds she used. At best she had three bullets left, maybe she didn't have any. She decided to hope for the best and formed a plan that would guarantee she could get a clear shot at Bruno.

A car horn behind her made her aware of how close her pursuer had come and forced her act quickly as the back of her car was violently rammed by Bruno. "This is it," she said aloud as she steeled herself for what she was about to do. Riza pushed her car to go just a little faster as she waited for just a little more space on the road to pull off her crazy plan. Bruno was honking his horn behind her trying to catch up with her again. She saw her opportunity as a curve in the road ahead opened up, 'it's things like this that make people believe everything they see in the movies,' she thought. She cut the wheel and slammed on the brakes forcing her car to skid sideways towards the curve. As her side of the car turned broadside to his, she used the hand she had been pressing to her side and removed the gun from her waistline. With the world spinning out of control she aimed her sights between his eyes for the last time. She squeezed the trigger hoping that she still had a round in her barrel, unleashing hell on the last man standing as his car collided with hers.


	10. Back in Action

The outfit had given up after Havoc came back from Riza's apartment without news. Roy called the investigation off, frustrated with the lack of evidence that turned up. He had been absolutely positive that if it had been her that she would've left some clue for him. Up in the front of the car Havoc kept silent, unsure of what to do to console Mustang.

"Take the scenic route back Havoc, I need time to think," Mustang ordered. Havoc simply nodded with a glance back in his rearview mirror to check on his superior's state. Not seeing a visible sign of distress, but knowing better Jean turned north on Main Street towards a little coffee shop he liked to visit when he was on this side of town.

"Hey Chief? Mind if I have a smoke?" Havoc used his best smile to convince Mustang that he really needed it. Roy didn't really mind his smoking as much as Riza did, but he still didn't want to force him to sit with smoke blowing in his face.

"That's fine, just roll down the window." Mustang barely stirred from his thoughts to answer, but he was aware that the loss of a comrade affected everyone in the unit. Havoc was probably the next closest person to Riza other than himself, and he wasn't ignorant of the fact that his Second Lieutenant couldn't calm himself without his nicotine habit. He had just about finished his cigarette when the two men heard tires screeching and metal crunching just ahead.

Havoc shot a quick glance back at Mustang. "What do you think that is Chief?"

"Sounds like an accident Havoc. Slow down, we might have to stop and help."

Neither of the men could believe what happened next as Havoc slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the car that slid sideways over the side of the curve and began rolling down the slight incline, quickly followed by a second car that launched itself over the edge of the road and landed on its top.

Both men were already out of their vehicle and running towards the cars before they even came to a full rest. Havoc shouted to Mustang if he had noticed the first vehicle had been one of the military's, but he didn't respond. They came up to the edge of the road and stopped to survey the carnage below them. Roy saw the second car had slid on its top to the bottom of the incline and that the driver hanging out of the window clearly beyond help at this point. Something struck him odd about the injuries to that drivers face but he ignored it as he scanned across the wreckage to the other car. Havoc was right, it was one of the military's vehicles, but Roy didn't see the driver inside the car. What he did see was a lot of blood on the ground and his stomach started twisting.

He lunged over the side of the road and ran towards the first vehicle, looking for the missing driver. He yelled back to Havoc to call for help as his eyes fell upon a bloody heap on the ground about 20 yards away from the wreckage. He kept running until he came within a few feet of the body. He saw the same clothes Riza had been wearing when she left him the night before, the sweater was so soaked in blood that Roy couldn't even tell what color it was supposed to be. Grief and guilt threatened to overwhelm him before he could even reach her, and his legs barely carried him the remaining distance to her side. He fell to the ground as he reached her and saw her face. Until then he could've hoped that it wasn't her, that she wasn't this crumpled heap of a person on the side of the road. Roy shot his hand out to her neck feeling for a pulse that he desperately hoped was still there. He found what he was looking for but it was terrifyingly weak. He called out to Havoc again to get help as he felt the world was moving entirely too slow and the risk of losing her was far too real.

VVVVWWWWWWVVVVVVVV

Roy couldn't believe his ears when Riza finished telling him the whole story. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling trying to take it all in. He couldn't believe how quickly things had gone from her never knowing about those men to them no longer being a problem and how it had almost cost her life. After a moment or two he looked back at Riza and even in the darkness of the room he could see tears glistening as they rolled down her cheek. This was the second unusual thing she had done in front of him tonight.

"Riza," he squeezed her hand to let her know he was there. When it didn't seem to comfort her he got out of the chair and sat on the cot with her. He was getting confused at the silent stream of tears that continued to roll.

Riza couldn't look at him. She felt like a failure admitting that she had been taken by surprise and kidnapped without a fight, that so many times her failure to double check her work nearly got her killed and she knew that they would've killed Roy too. She didn't know how he could stand staying in the room with her now that he knew the whole story. She had tried to stop them, but her tears of frustration overran her eyelids and ran freely down her cheeks. She couldn't even move to wipe them away before Roy witnessed them. One hand had been held by him the entire time and the other arm was immobilized to allow her shoulder to heal.

Roy felt terrible as her watched her, she looked like hell. She wasn't any better at placing blame than he was and he knew that she took the situation hard. He just didn't know why. From his point of view she did more than he ever expected of anyone, and even though not through the best of circumstances she completely eliminated an entire group who had threatened him. She came back to him alive, and he couldn't have been more thankful. Why was she so upset?

He reached over to her face, but she withdrew her head slightly, "Don't."

"Riza, what's wrong?"

She finally looked at him, her eyes full of despair and frustration. "I don't know why you're still here," she said. "I should have been better prepared Roy. They knew where you lived and I didn't even know who they were!"

He wanted to stop her. It had been his fault that she didn't know about those men, he had hidden the file from her for weeks.

"That man was almost on your doorstep. I passed him when I left and I didn't even recognize him after staring at those files for hours! I'm lucky he chose to follow me. They told me they were going after you…" She stopped. Her emotions began to get the best of her and she couldn't continue.

Roy wouldn't let her deny him again, he took her into his arms as best he could avoiding her injuries. Her forehead rested on his shoulder as a new wave of tears welled up. She actually put her hand on his chest and held onto his shirt for a brief moment. Roy felt a twinge of nostalgia and wished that he was able to hold her like this more often… minus the near death experience, kidnapping and guilt trip. "I'm sorry Roy," she whispered not moving her head.

He leaned back to look at her, "You've got to stop that."

Riza met his eyes as he brought a hand up to her face and gently wiped away her tears with his thumb. "You need someone better to watch your back Roy. I put you at risk."

"It's a risky business we're in," he gave her a reassuring smile. That was one fact even she couldn't take the blame for, they both knew they'd never really be safe until they got where they were going.

She smiled back at him and took a deep breath. She realized her hand was still on his chest, and still holding his shirt rather tightly. Releasing his shirt and smoothing it over, she leaned back again. "Be serious." Her tears had disappeared but not her guilt.

"I am. Listen, I know what you're thinking," he sat up straight and scanned the infirmary. Like little babies the other two soldiers were still fast asleep, and they were safe to continue the conversation. He turned his attention back to her as she lightly placed her hand on his. Smiling he continued, "I wouldn't have anyone else watching my back if I could pick from the top thousand snipers in the country. You know it's not even about that." He paused looking for the right words to get his point across. "You made me who I am. You're the only one who can keep me on the right path, and when I get to the end of it, I'll need you there with me as well."

Riza shifted in the cot trying to sit back up to be at eye level with him. Forgetting not to put pressure on her elbow she was reminded quickly as a sharp pain shot up her arm. With a grunt of dissatisfaction she looked up at him, "Help me up please?"

To his surprise when he leaned down to help her up she grabbed his shirt with her available hand and pulled him down faster. He had to throw his arms out and catch the railings of the cot to avoid completely losing his balance and falling on her. Now temporarily suspended over her, she looked him in his onyx eyes and asserted, "I will do whatever it takes to make sure you get there. That's been my promise."

"_Us_," he corrected her. "Do what it takes to get _us_ there."

She just nodded and brought her lips up to meet his. The brief contact let him know that she was done arguing. She might be his right hand, and the eyes on his back, but she was also a woman who knew how to end an argument in such a way that it made him feel like there was a light at the end of this god-forsaken tunnel. He kissed her again thankful that everything had turned out alright. She let him deepen the kiss for a moment then gave a half-hearted push against his chest to give him the sign to get going. She was starting to look as tired as she should have after everything she'd gone through and he knew that the night shift would be in soon to check on their patients.

He pushed himself back upright, and checked the room again in case the noise had stirred anyone. "I'll make sure to have your vacation request filled out for the days that you 'went home' Lieutenant." He leaned back over her to whisper in her ear, "Thank you for telling me." He planted a lingering kiss on her forehead and stood back up. "Get better as soon as you can Hawkeye, those boys can't do a damn thing without you," he winked at her and silently slipped out the door.

VVVVVWWWWWWVVVVVV

Two weeks later, 07:45, Hawkeye was sitting at her desk again. All of the men's paperwork was waiting for them on their desks, her jacket once again hanging on the back of her chair and she sipped on a bitter cup of coffee made fresh from the break room down the hall. She walked over to the window that usually contained Mustang's silhouette to look out at the sunrise over the city. Two weeks ago she hadn't been sure that she'd ever look out of this window again. Now she was ready to watch the Colonel waste time staring out of it.

Mustang would no doubt be mad that she disobeyed the doctor's orders and came back on duty so soon. Havoc had been concerned when she called him last night to inform him that he could resume his responsibilities as 2nd Lieutenant in the morning. "In other words Jean, I'll be back to babysit the Colonel," was how she phrased it. Her arm was still in a sling, but her bruises had disappeared and the wound to her side had been patched up and was healing well. She insisted on coming back to work and the doctor agreed to let her go on light duty.

She turned from the window and went over to her desk to get a head start on the day's work. After all, if there was one thing she could be sure of is that this office will need her to be on light duty for probably the next month to catch up with everything.

The men showed up over the next half hour, all of them happy to see her at least until they saw their desks full of work. No one really cared that her return came with the expectation of getting right down to business. It was actually nice to have things ready to go when they arrived, seeing as it wouldn't take them an additional half hour to get it all themselves and they could go back to having breaks on time later in the day. They might even be able to go home on time for the first time in two weeks.

At 09:00 Mustang finally arrived. As he entered the office he noticed something strange. He heard the scribbling of pens on paper, but no one yelling about a bet or cheering. He looked over at Hawkeye's desk and was startled to say the least. There she was, saluting him as if she had never left.

"Nice to see you back Lieutenant." Mustang remarked as he made his way to his desk. He had the slightest of smiles when he saw the large amount of paperwork waiting for him on it and thought to himself, 'Some things never change.'

"Hawkeye."

"Sir?"

"I thought you had another week before coming back."

"The thought of all the paperwork I'd have to catch up on kept me up at night. Doc said he'd let go early if I thought I would get some sleep," she stated in the driest manner possible. The men couldn't help but snicker at her comment.

"Mhmm. Nothing like a cramped hand to lull one to bed at night," Mustang remarked as he turned around and rested his rump on his desk. He heard Breda chortle across the room as he obviously misinterpreted Roy's statement. He shut up when Roy shot him a death glare.

"Do you have anything in particular that you need me to address first, Sir?"

"Actually I do have some files to discuss with you later. Do you mind?"

She noticed the mischievous glance he gave her, and within the blink of an eye it was gone. "Anything you need, Sir." 'Maybe tonight I'll stay…' she thought as she sat down and settled back into the daily routine.


	11. Epilogue

AN: I was told by a friend that I ended my story prematurely. And I believe she was correct, I mean what's a happy ending without smut. So, here you go. And now it's really done!

#*#*#*#*#*#

Roy publicly handed the folders to Hawkeye, non to obvious of course, and requested she read them over and meet him in an hour at their usual café down the road. When she arrived an hour later with the file in hand it was all she could do not to drag him to the car and speed back to his apartment. The file had been a code, and what she had deciphered was almost bold enough to make her blush in front of the rest of the office. Almost. RIza wasn't that easy to embarrass when Roy was involved.

They managed to professionally make it through a cup of coffee at the café and make general conversation with the shop owner as usual. The owner had expressed his happiness that Riza had recovered well from her car accident (full details of course being left out) and he attempted to scold Roy for not showing up at the shop in over two weeks. Only to rescind after hearing how vigilantly Roy had been attending to her in the infirmary. After some other light banter about the weather and the other usual topics the two left the shop together as Riza went outside and pulled the car around for Roy. Merely a formality of ranking, they were still in public and as always were careful to avoid giving any reason for anyone to suspect there was so much more under the surface.

Roy patiently waited as she closed the door behind him and walked around to get into the driver's seat.

"Shall I take you home, Sir?" She asked as she looked at him in the rearview. Again a formality, just in case there were bugs in the cars. Had this been a movie there would've been red lights illuminating the car and a sensual gleam in her eye, not to mention a form fitting red dress and- "Sir?"

"Yes, Lieutenant it would be appreciated." Roy had to keep it together for all of another ten minutes. Just ten long minutes.

They reached the curb in front of his apartment and parked the car in the usual place. She got out and opened the door, entirely too slow for Roy at the moment. But she had always been the one to keep him in check, so he bared with it accepting it as a necessary evil. They made it calmly up the stairs and to his door.

Once the door was locked behind them Riza switched demeanors incredibly fast. Roy had barely turned around and she was helping him take his jacket off. Or at least trying. Only having one mobile arm made it hard to gracefully or quickly unbutton it, so he wasted no time in assisting. Only to be followed quickly by his uniform shirt and undershirt leaving him bare chested as he moved in closer to Riza. He reached for her hand that was feverishly working at the buttons of her own shirt and took over for her. She moved her recently unemployed hand to roam over his chiseled body, moving up to his abdomen, over his smooth chest and up over his shoulders to the back of his head where she pulled his face to hers. They kissed hungrily with the passion that arises from a recent near death experience as it filled them with the need to hold one another and make sure they were really real. Neither of them noticed the wall that was getting closer until Riza's back more or less slammed into it.

An "Ow," escaped from her before she could withhold it as the bullet wound in her shoulder reminded her it was indeed still there and still healing. Roy immediately released her from his hold with a look of guilt and shock and stepped away to allow her to move. He apologetically looked at her as if he thought he might've broken her and she could see he was chiding himself for forgetting she was still injured. "Don't worry about it," she overcame the pain in her back to give him a reassuring, sly smile that betrayed none of what she was physically feeling. She still wanted him, no, _needed_ him to make love her and she wasn't about to let a few bullet wounds get in the way of it.

Roy raised his eyebrows when she came back towards him, grabbed him by his pants and led him as she walked backwards out of the breezeway. He couldn't help the devilish grin that spread across his face as his warrior woman jumped right back in the saddle… well so to speak… unwilling to let his guffaw stop her. Never taking his eyes off hers, nor she from his, she brought them into the living room until gently bumping into the back of the couch. At this point Roy felt confident enough to take over again and he set her gently up on the back of the couch.

"I'll be more careful this time," he whispered as he stood in between her legs and turned his attention back to her shirt. Unfastening the one button that was left before they were interrupted her shirt fell open. Roy knelt down and feathered kisses along her stomach, making her giggle as his soft lips tickled her. He smiled when he heard her, happy that she was relaxed enough to laugh with him, and he moved upwards, slowly, tortuously kissing every inch of her. He was even more tender if it was possible when he was near her side injury, pouring his love into healing her.

Giddy that Roy seamlessly picked up where they left off, Riza ran her fingers through his messy hair as he worked his way back up to her lips so painstakingly slow. She was squirming as he sent chills up and down her spine and despite his promise to be careful she felt like she would die if he kept this up. Roy had one hand on her back to keep her stable and as he moved up her torso with his lips, his other hand slid onto her thigh and sensuously massaged its way up. She wanted to pull him over the side of the couch and take him right then and there but she knew she couldn't. When Roy had reached her upper torso finally and buried his face in her bosom.

She couldn't help but laugh at him. He turned his gaze up to her with a drunken smile, "What? I need a rest, and you looked so comfortable."

'God, that man…' she thought as she looked down at him. She wanted to kiss him. As he made himself comfortable on her chest she tried to reach down to pull him up, forgetting about her sling until it stopped her hand halfway. "Damnit," she muttered. Centering herself as best as possible she stopped massaging Roy's scalp and attempted to take the sling off. Of course the lack of ministrations made him look up to see what was going on.

"Riza, you shouldn't. You need to leave it on," he said half dreamily, half in seriousness. He didn't want to have to explain how the Lieutenant would wind up in the infirmary again by aggravating all of her injuries in one night.

"I'll be careful," she assured him. "Help me take it off."

"I've been working on it," he replied with his boyish grin.

She gave him a look for his perversion and prodded him again, "Please. It's in my way."

Sighing dramatically as he pulled himself out of his cozy resting place, he stood up and looked at the sling. Cautiously he removed the strap from around her neck and let it fall, taking with it the sling that was meant to keep her from causing more damage to her injured shoulder. He slid his hands up the sleeves of her shirt up to her neck and underneath it to caress her bare skin.

She was just as nervous as the sling came off, wondering for a brief second if it was worth the risk.

As Roy slid her shirt off, he took advantage of her bared neck and descended upon it like a ravenous beast. He knew just where every weak spot she had was and that was certainly one of them, smiling as a moan escaped her lips to confirm it.

'It was worth it,' she decided instantaneously. She moved her now free hands to his waistline and tugged at his belt as fast as she could manage with Roy's attentions quickly turning her mind to mush and her body into putty in his hands. At this point she couldn't even feel her toes, much less any pain from the injuries. All she felt was her heartbeat pounding and Roy's hot kisses burning along her collar bone as he made his way to the other side of her neck.

Roy looked up with a grin as he felt the cool air hit his bare legs when Riza succeeded in loosening his belt and pants. She worked quickly, and that was just one of many reasons he loved her. He looked her in the eye as she grinned back at him confirming that she knew, he knew, she wanted him sooner than later. He kissed her through his grin and stepped out of his pants. "Fair is fair," he smirked as he slid his hands down her back and effortlessly popped the clasp on her bra, allowing it to slide forward on her arms. He left her to remove it fully herself as he brought his hands down and around to her belt. It was no challenge to remove it just as quickly, and once he loosened her pants he brought both hands around to her backside and slid them down.

Taking the hint from Roy, Riza put her hands around his neck, cautiously relying a little more on her uninjured arm for support as he lifted her up off the couch. Once her pants fell free, she wrapped her legs around his waist and her mouth demanded attention from his once more as he walked them towards his bedroom. She was excited and overwhelmed by the heat between their bodies as he carefully laid her back on his bed and kissed his way down her body to the last article of clothing she had on. He deftly removed it as his mouth followed his hands all the way down until she was bare in front of him.

With a little less finesse he shed his remaining clothing and gently climbed back into bed with her, trying not to jostle her too much. She didn't let him keep the high ground for long as he was pushed onto his back when he leaned over her to continue where he left off.

Riza rolled him over in a swift motion and looked down to find a slightly bewildered Roy who clearly hadn't been expecting it. She smiled at him seductively and leaned down to kiss him. "I can't stand anymore of your torture Roy, I need you now," she whispered in his ear as she shifted herself over him.

They made love that night like they had the first time. Slowly, cautiously, and passionately. Grateful to be able to hold each other again, and not ever wanting to let go. The sunrise brought the cessation of their time together as they got up early to attend to some of the wounds that had opened up again during the night and to collect clothes left lying all over. Roy for once, helped Riza dress and put the sling back in place as she prepared to head out the door. Havoc would be on his way to pick Mustang up any minute and she needed to be gone by then.

"Are you sure you'll be alright to come in today?" Mustang questioned as she slipped into her jacket in the breezeway.

"There's only one other place I could think of staying, and unfortunately we've already made the bed," she remarked as she got her one arm through the sleeve and straightened out the other side as it hung over her incapacitated arm. She turned to him ready to head out, commentary aside she was already back in the role of Lieutenant Hawkeye, primly dressed and miraculously not a wrinkle to be seen. She stiffened up and the warm, lithe woman he knew once again sank under the surface of formality. "I'll see you at the office Sir." And with that she was out the door and on her way to the office to be the early bird as usual.

VVVVVVWWWWWWVVVVVVVVV

Havoc waited until Hawkeye's car disappeared around the corner, and slowly pulled up to the curb that her car just left. He sat inside the car for a few minutes pondering if she had stopped over before work or had spent the night with Mustang. His mind thinking back to the note he had seen scribbled on her desk after she left the office yesterday. It had been a strange note, nothing more than a list of names really.

'… Cain, Alex, Nigel and Tom. Wyatt, Alan, Igor, and Tyler. Tina and Opie. Fred, Ingrid, Ned, Ivan, Stan and Henry. West, Harriet, Alex, and Terrence. Winston and Ed. Steve, Timothy, Amanda, Ross, Teresa, Emma and Dave…"

Havoc sighed as he figured it was the making of another group of recruits that she was organizing for Mustang, and got out of the car to fetch the Colonel.

#*#*#*#*#*#*#

AN: If you don't get what the note was, I reference you to chapter 74 of the manga. Thanks again!


End file.
